Category: Chicken, Recipes, Asian | Post by: Andrea Wong
My previous post talked about one of my favourite pieces of winter cooking equipment - the vacuum pot. It makes cooking stews, soups and casseroles so easy and doesn't use much electricity or gas, as like a regular Thermos flask, it retains the heat for hours.
This is a dish that I love making in my vacuum pot because it is so quick and tasty. It takes about 10 minutes to chuck everything together and it continues cooking without any extra heat.
This recipe can be done in either a regular pot, slow cooker or vacuum pot. The instructions below are for a regular pot (so you can try this dish even if you don't have a vacuum pot) and vacuum pot, so you can see how easy it is to use!
Chinese cooking uses a lot of oyster sauce. I don't use it much and instead I opt for a vegetarian version, mushroom sauce. It has good flavour and is a decent alternative to oyster sauce. I get mine from the Tofu Shop but you should be able to find this at your local Asian grocery store.
Whole, dried shitake mushrooms are available from Asian grocery stores, I bought a 300gm bag for $10 that will last me ages. You can also get shitake mushrooms ready-sliced from the supermarket. They cost a lot more per 100gm but they are really handy as you can get them with your regular grocery shopping trip and they come already sliced! I just chuck in a handful or two into dishes, for a quick asian mushroom flavour.
Whether you cook this dish in a regular pot, slow cooker or vacuum pot, it is bound to have lots of lovely gravy. Put a couple of extra spoonfuls of the gravy over your rice... yum!
Chicken and shitake mushroom casserole
Ingredients
6 skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into 3-4 cm pieces
12 dried shitake mushrooms or 1 cup ready-sliced dried shitake mushrooms
2 tbsp canola oil (or rice bran or sunflower oil)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5cm ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 onion, chopped into chunks
1/4 cup Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1/2 cup mushroom sauce (vegetarian oyster sauce)
2 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
Directions
- Put the whole dried shitake mushrooms into a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Let it soak for 5-10 minutes to rehydrate
- Drain out the mushroom liquid and squeeze the excess water from the mushrooms. Slice into thin slices (about 1/2 cm thick). If you are using the ready-sliced shitake mushrooms, you don't need to rehydrate them first.
- In a pot (or if using a vacuum pot, use the inside cooking pot), heat the oil over a medium heat and saute the ginger and garlic together for 1 minute.
- Add the onion and sautee for another 2 minutes
- Add the chicken and sautee until brown
- Turn down the heat to low and stir in the shitake mushrooms, mushroom sauce, Chinese rice wine, soya sauce and sesame oil
- Cover and simmer lightly for 20 minutes. If using a vacuum pot, cover and put the cooking pot into the vacuum container and close. Leave for at least 3-4 hours or up to 8 hours. Reheat for a few minutes before serving.
Serve with rice and steamed veges for a simple but delicious meal.