What's
New
Braised Chicken Drumlets
I made a Chinese braised chicken drumlets with mushroom, carrot and dried beancurd sheets. The drumlets are small so they are fast to cook. This is a savoury and homely Chinese dish that always goes well with rice. This time round, I did not use the usual Chinese aromatics for braising (such as 5-star powder, cinnamon etc), relying on simple ingredients such as soy sauces and rice wine. The taste is still great so this is one braised chicken I will make when I want a fast & simplified braise.
See Also:
- Braised Chicken Drumsticks Recipe
- Steamed Chicken in Chicken Essence Recipe
- Delicious Chinese Recipes
You can adjust the taste (such as the heat and sweetness) as well as the amount of sauce in the home-cooked version.
STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS
Heat oil in wokpan, stir fry ginger and spring onions (bottom white portion) briefly until aromatic.
Add chicken drumlets, carrot, dried mushroom cap and sesame oil. Stir fry them together …
When the chicken turns opaque, add dried chilli and mushroom soaking water, …
water …
and seasonings.
Stir to mix the sauce evenly, bring to a simmer (pictured above) and cover with lid for 5 minutes.
This was my braised chicken after the first 5 minutes of simmering. Stir them around every 5 minutes so that the chicken is evenly coated.
I added some fried beancurd sheets as I have some leftovers. Stir them into the sauce.
Add more water if more sauce is desired. Season to taste and then thicken the sauce with cornstarch slurry.
The completed braised chicken, straight from the wokpan.
And this is the dish when it is plated.
So appetizing and moreish! A perfectly delicious and healthy dish all year round. I love it.
I was looking for a recipe to braise salmon heads… Yeah, weird, eh. I live in Thailand and they halve, then braise salmon heads in a simple, slightly thickened stock similar to yours at many Japanese and Chinese restaurants – so I gave it a shot.
A little context here… Norwegian farmed salmon fillets start at about $30 dollars a kilo and go up from there. I typically pay 40 or so bucks for a kg of nice salmon for the grill. Salmon heads, with gobs of meat back past the gills cost less than 2 dollars each: pre-split and ready to cook. Also, in Asia there’s a real ‘eat every edible part’ mindset with food, so fish heads from a large fish is pretty standard fare.
I followed the recipe, substituting the 2 halfs for the chicken. I had to gently braise them for a little longer, to the point they were totally cooked through but still appetising to look at – not boiled to bits. You do need to be a little gentle compared to chicken drummettes.
Once I pulled the fish, I added a few carrot and daikon slices to cook until firm but cooked, then thicken the sauce with the corn starch slurry.
It worked!
I know fish heads don’t work for everyone but I think this recipe would work for firm flesh fish, either whole or steaks, even fillets if they’re thick enough.
Anyway, thanks for a great recipe. I will be doing the chicken version soon
The bonus 豆皮 to soak up the sauce gravy, yay! This dish so good with steamed rice.