A Flavourful Classic Braised Chicken Dish: Braised Chicken with Bitter Gourd 苦瓜焖鸡
Braised Chicken with Bitter Gourd is a classic home-cooked dish that most Asian Chinese households and chinese restaurants are familiar with. It’s a very tasty dish with a hint of bitter notes from the bitter gourd and the sweetness of the tender chicken, as well as the savoury fermented yellow bean paste and black beans. Anyone who do not favour bitter gourd will surely start to love this humble gourd once they are introduced to this flavourful dish.
The Star of This Dish: Bitter Gourd, Paired with Rich Savoury Bean Sauce
The star of this dish is of course, bitter gourd which is also known as bitter melon (Peria, 苦瓜). One will either love or dislike eating it totally. But once you have acquire the taste or rather the bitter taste, you will just love anything that is cooked with bitter gourd.
An important point to note when cooking this dish is to tone down the bitter flavour of bitter gourd. It is actually surprisingly easy to do so, you can also use this method for other bitter gourd dishes as well. Once the excess bitterness is done away with, braising fried chicken with it is really a breeze. The light braising process together with the rich savoury bean sauce do help to further tone down the bitter flavour making the taste just right.
A Simple Dish but Full of Flavour and Comforting
Braised Chicken With Bitter Gourd is such a simple dish and all so delicious. The complex flavour of bitter gourd combining with chicken and the bean paste seasonings makes the braised gravy so savoury and make each mouthful so flavourful. This is so delicious especially when eaten with a bowl of steaming hot rice.
As always, Enjoy!
Braised Chicken With Bitter Gourd 苦瓜焖鸡
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Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 500 grams chicken (2 whole legs), skin removed, cut into bite size pieces,
- 300 grams bitter gourd, cut into bite size
- 1 inch ginger, slice into thin pieces.
- 2 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fermented bean paste (taucho), minced
- 1 tsp fermented black bean, rinsed and drained
- 1 tsp cornflour , add 1 tbsp water for thickening
Marinade:
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp Shaoxing wine
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
- ½ tbsp cornstarch
Seasonings:
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
- 1 cup water
Have ready the ingredients needed to cook the dish.
First cut chicken whole legs into bite size pieces.
Have ready ingredients to marinade the chicken pieces.
Mix well and set aside the chicken pieces to marinade for at least an hour.
Next, cut the bitter gourd in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a spoon.
Cut each half crosswise into about 3 inch in length. Then cut each piece lengthwise into strips of about 3/4 inch in width.
Rub the cut bitter gourd with 1/2 tsp salt.
Bring a pan of water to a boil. Blanch the bitter gourd for about 1 minute.
Drain and rinse bitter gourd in cold water and set aside.
Mince some cloves of garlic.
Next, cut skinned ginger into thin slices.
Then rinse fermented black bean,drain and set aside. And we're ready to cook the dish.
Heat up 2 tbsp vegetable oil in a wok. Saute half the minced garlic and sliced ginger until fragrant.
Then add the marinated chicken. Stir fry for about 3 minutes on medium high heat or until chicken is half done. (Chicken begins to shrink and firm up). Dish the chicken out and set aside.
Reheat wok and add a little more oil. When oil is hot, add in the remaining minced garlic and sliced ginger. Stir fry until aromatic and lightly browned.
Then add the fermented bean paste and fermented black bean. Stir to mix well.
Add in bitter gourd and saute, followed by the half cooked chicken pieces. Stir fry and mix well together.
Have ready the seasonings for the dish.
Mix all the seasonings in a bowl.
Pour in the seasoning and stir well. Bring the garvy mixture to a boil.
Then cover, turn the heat to medium low and let simmer for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
When chicken is cooked, add in cornstarch solution. Toss the chicken and the bitter gourd until sauce thickens.
Dish out and serve hot with steamed white rice and Enjoy!
2 comments
Easy to follow and delicious.👍
Thank you for sharing.
You are most welcome.