Chinese Chicken & Rice
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Serves: 4 people
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12 shiitake mushrooms, fresh or dehydrated (rehydrate in 3/4 cup of boiling water for 20 minutes)
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450g/1 pound chicken pieces, skin on
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3 tablespoons oyster sauce
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3 tablespoons light soy sauce
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2 tablesponns shao xing cooking wine
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2 tablespoons kecap manis
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2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
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1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
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2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
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2-3 tablespoons oil
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2 cups of rice (jasmine, basmati or whatever one you fancy)
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500ml/2 cups chicken stock
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3 Lup Cheong sausages, sliced diagonally
**Buyer's tip: you can buy Lup Cheong sausages at the supermarket in the Asian foods aisle or at Asian grocery stores. They come in pork and duck liver varieties, I use the pork. **
Step 1 - Rehydrate mushrooms if using dehydrated ones. Then marinate the chicken pieces in a bowl or a large zip lock bag for 10-15 minutes in a mixture of oyster sauce, light soy sauce, shao xing cooking wine, kecap manis and dark soy sauce.
Step 2 - Heat a cast iron pot or heavy based saucepan with a lid on medium to high heat. Add oil and drain the chicken from the marinade (reserve the marinade though) and brown in two lots so as not to overcrowd the pan. Set aside on a plate. Add a little more oil if needed and add the ginger and garlic and fry for a minute until just getting fragrant.
Step 3 - Wash the rice under cold water two or three times and drain. You can also do this part in a rice cooker. Add to the pot with the ginger and garlic and then add the mushrooms plus 1/2 of the dehydrating water, all of the marinade ingredients, rice, chicken and chicken stock. Simmer gently for 15 minutes. Then add the Lup Cheong sausage and stir the rice around so that the rice on top gets cooked. Simmer gently for another 15 minutes until rice is done.