Chinese Braised Chicken And Chestnuts Recipes

Steps:

• Marinate chicken 1 day ahead:
• Bring water to a simmer in a small saucepan, then stir in mushrooms and simmer 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature, then strain through a sieve into a large bowl. Discard stems, then chill mushroom caps, covered, until ready to braise chicken. Stir remaining marinade ingredients into mushroom liquid, then add chicken and marinate, chilled, stirring occasionally, 1 day.
• Brown chicken in 3 batches and make sauce:
• Remove chicken from marinade and pat dry (discard marinade).
• Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Just before browning each batch of chicken, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Brown, skin side down first, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.
• Pour off all but 1 tablespoon oil from skillet, then reduce heat to medium-low and sauté ginger, stirring, 1 minute (do not brown). Add white wine and Shaoxing and boil until reduced by three fourths, about 5 minutes. Add broth, 1 1/2 cups water, sugar, soy sauce, white pepper, and remaining 2 teaspoons kosher salt and bring to a simmer.
• Combine cornstarch and remaining 2 tablespoons cold water and whisk into sauce, then boil 1 minute.
• Braise chicken:
• Transfer chicken, skin side up, to a 6-to 8-quart heavy pot (place white meat on top). Add sauce, chestnuts, and reserved mushroom caps. Gently simmer, covered, until chicken is just cooked through, 15 to 25 minutes.
• Cut breasts in half and return to pot. Add ham. Gently simmer 3 minutes more.

Steps:

• Stir together sugar, wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and water in a medium bowl, then set aside.
• Cut chicken through bones into 1-inch pieces with a cleaver. Add chicken to a 4-quart pot of boiling water and simmer briskly, uncovered, 5 minutes. Drain chicken in a colander and when cool enough to handle remove any skin, excess fat, and tiny bone shards.
• Heat vegetable oil in a wok over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then stir-fry ginger and garlic until golden, 1 to 2 minutes, and transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Add half of chicken to wok and stir-fry until golden, about 2 minutes, then transfer to plate with ginger and garlic. Stir-fry remaining chicken with chestnuts until golden, about 2 minutes. Return chicken, ginger, and garlic from plate to wok, then add soy mixture. Cover wok and cook chicken over moderate heat until sauce is reduced by half, about 25 minutes. Remove lid and cook over moderately high heat, stirring frequently, until sauce is thickened and just coats chicken, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in sesame oil. Serve sprinkled with scallion.

Steps:

• Boil chestnuts, remove skins.
• Saute onions and ginger in oil, add chicken.
• Add soy sauce, salt, sugar, wine and water, braise over medium heat till half done (about 15 minutes).
• Add chestnuts, continue to braise until done.

Steps:

• If using dried chestnuts, soften for 4 hours in warm water and then simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain, cool and set aside. If using frozen, blanch for 3 minutes, drain, cool and set aside.
• In a wok or heavy-bottomed casserole, warm the oil over high heat. When sizzling, add the ginger and scallions and cook for 2 minutes. Add the chicken and stir to make sure that each piece is cooked until consistently golden.
• Add the soy sauce, the sherry, the sugar, and the salt and toss chicken pieces to coat evenly, for 2 minutes. Add the water, the star anise and the softened chestnuts. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste, adjust seasoning with salt and black pepper and serve immediately.