Stir-fry Chicken & Black Fungus
In this Chinese stir-fry chicken & black fungus, the fungus provides a refreshing crunch to the dish. This is a quick stir-fry, as overcooking the chicken will make it less tender. I enjoy black fungus because it is crunchy & being neutral in taste, it absorbs the nice flavours of any dish. I also like that dried black fungus keeps well in the pantry even in our humid climate, so it made me think of dishes to cook with fungus if I ran short of fresh ingredients. It also boosts many health benefits, among which the most popular one I always hear about from my mum & the older folks is that it “cleanses the blood” (清血). Check out the step-by-step photos in this page.
See Also:
STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS
First, marinate the chicken in seasonings for at least 15 minutes in the fridge. I’m using really simple everyday seasonings, namely mirin, soy sauce, oyster sauce & sesame oil.
Meanwhile, prepare the dried fungus by soaking them in a large bowl of water until reconstituted. After that, remove the ‘knot’ on the underside of each fungus (pictured above) by cutting it out with kitchen scissors. Then cut the fungus to uniform bite-sized pieces.
Heat oil in a wokpan. Fry minced garlic and ginger briefly until aromatic.
Add marinated chicken pieces and stir fry them until halfway opaque.
Add the carrot, Japanese scallions, red chilli, …
… followed by the prepared black fungus. Mix well.
Add water, leftover marinade sauce (pictured above) & Chinese wine.
Stir fry briefly, cover with lid and simmer until the chicken is cooked, about 2-3 minutes. Don’t overcook the chicken here as they may become tough.
After simmering, this is the amount of sauce this dish has. You can add more water if you want more sauce. You can also thicken the sauce with some cornstarch slurry if a thicker sauce is preferred. I like it this way, so I am neither adding water or thickening the sauce.
Plate it out and garnish with spring onions. This dish goes really well with rice! And leftovers reheat well the next day too, either on the stove or microwave oven.
Stir-fry Chicken & Black Fungus Recipe
In this stir-fry, the black fungus provide a nice crunch to the dish and complements the chicken well. You can use either dried black fungus (requires soaking) or fresh ones depending on the availability and your preference. Read the cooking notes at the end of the recipe for more details.
Ingredients:
- 1 boneless & skinless chicken thigh (or 175g chicken breast) cut to bite-sized chunks
- 15g dried black woodear fungus (黑木耳)
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 3 thin slices ginger minced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 stalk Japanese scallion (negi) use only the bottom white portion; slice thinly & diagonally
- 12 thinly sliced carrot
- 1 finger-length red chilli sliced thinly & diagonally
- 3 tbsp water add more if needed
- 1 tbsp Chinese wine (Hua Tiao/Shaoxing)
- chopped spring onions to garnish
(A) Marinade
- 1/2 tbsp mirin
- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp ginger juice
Directions:
- Marinate the chicken in (A) for at least 15 minutes or up to overnight in the fridge.
- Prepare dried black fungus by soaking them in a large bowl of water until reconstituted. Remove the ‘knot’ on the underside of each fungus by cutting it out with kitchen scissors. Cut the fungus to uniform bite-sized pieces.
- Fry the chicken & aromatics. Heat oil in a wokpan. Add ginger and garlic; stir fry briefly until aromatic. Add marinated chicken and stir fry until it is halfway opaque. Then stir in the scallion, carrot, chilli and prepared fungus. Stir fry until the chicken is opaque.
- Simmer and serve. Add water, leftover marinade sauce and Chinese wine. Cover with lid and simmer until chicken is cooked, about 2-3 minutes. Garnish with spring onions before serving.
Cooking Note(s)
- In place of dried black fungus, you can substitute with 100g fresh black fungus which does not require soaking. You still need to remove the ‘knot’ on the underside of each fungus as described in step 2.
- If you want more sauce, add more water after simmering. If you want a thicker sauce, stir in some cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce.