CANTONESE CHICKEN, MUSHROOM & WHITE WINE STEW: wallet-friendly, low-fat & carb, quick & easy

This adventurous boozy Cantonese-inspired chicken stew was popular amongst the hunting'n fishing set the Blogger fed many years ago... 

An unusal rich mixture of white wine, dried Chinese mushrooms, lemon, grass, star anise, fresh ginger and garlic.

The Stew was just exotic enough to tempt conservative eaters but not so intense as to be off-putting.

It's biggest selling points, though, are that it is low-fat/cholesterol and low-carb.  It was also frugal (using boiling fowl) and energy-efficient, slow cooked for hours in an oven or over a fire or on an Aga.  Though no one cared very much about that then! 

Since the advent of higher-welfare Chooks (thank you, M&S!), the price of decent chicken is now low enough to re-consider this recipe.

The ingredients are more or less the same but the cooking time is  sharply reduced.  Today's chickens are so tender that, apart from a little prep the night before, the stew can be on the table in 20 mins.

The recipe is unusually versatile: a whole bird serves a family or a crowd depending on how small the individual pieces of chicken are; half a bird is perfect for a couple or singleton.

Cost: depends on chicken: whole or pieces (in the absence of small chickens 67 bought a medium, 1.5 kilos, for £7) plus cupboard staples: wine, stock & Asian spices

Serves: 7 adults; more if the bird is chopped into smaller segments (as seen on Chinese platters: bottom page How to Carve a Roast/Poached Chicken).  Couples and singletons, use half the ingredients

Ingreds:

 

whole chicken 1.5 k/3lbs Or equiv legs & breasts 

1.5 pints good stock, home-made or cubes/granules* (see Tips below) 

3-4 dried Shitake mushrooms

1 large onion or 1.5 leeks, whites only, thinly sliced

2 large cloves garlic, peeled, whole (or generous 1/8 tsp garlic granules)

2 inch/4cm piece root ginger or 1/2 tsp dried ginger

min 1/8 tsp, max 1/2 tsp hot sauce (eg Chiu Chow Chilli Oil - very fiery) OR large pinch chilli flakes to taste

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 stick lemongrass (opt)

2 star anise (opt)

1-2 glasses white wine OR white grape juice

Garnishes: 

chives, parsley or coriander, fresh if poss

drizzle of oyster sauce OR hoisin sauce

drizzle of toasted sesame oil

Method: 

1. Pour boiling water over dried mushrooms; steep 30 mins or overnight
2. Remove chicken skin; cut bird into min 8 pieces, halving each breast.  Save wings for freezer.  Cover with clingfilm until ready to cook.
   
   
   
3. Remove mushrooms from soaking water. squeezing excess liquid into its container; remove stems from reconstituted mushrooms, cut into small dice; strain liquid, leaving gritty bits behind; set aside
   
   
4. In a large saucepan, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil over med high; add onions/leeks & mushrooms; cook til soft but not brown
5. Pour stock over; add mushroom liquid, aromatics and chicken carcass; bring to a boil min 5 mins, skimming off froth 
6. Submerge chicken pieces in the stock (completely cover in liquid); leave a few mins, turn chicken pieces once and re-submerge
7. Turn heat down to minimum; stir in half the wine you intend to use; cover with a lid; simmer half an hour
8. Remove lemon grass, star anise and whole garlic...don't worry they're easy to find
9. Taste, season with pepper & salt if needed; add. more wine if desired
10. Some people prefer to serve this as a soup (see below) with flat noodles (see tips)  but if you wish to have something thicker, stir in add 1 tablespoon corn flour mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water 
11. Serve unadorned, or add quick cooking veg like peas or tenderstem broccoli or green beans or mange tout 

    

    Ramen-type noodle soup with oyster sauce

    
    

Comment:

'The chicken was tender and the liquid had good flavour; my companion could taste the wine and the star anise, though some chicken pieces were more intensely flavoured than others.  The extra Chiu Chow Chilli sauce was really hot and spicy and gave the tortillas we had with it a real buzz.' Political Agent. (Blogger comment: more rather than less liquid is adviseable.)

Tips

• For quick stock, 67 added chicken carcass, carrots, dark green leaves of leeks, garlic, fresh ginger, lemongrass (opt) & star anise (opt) to stock made from granules; brought it to a boil & simmered it for an hour
• The flat noodles pictures in the soup bowl were previously known as 'ho fun' but are currently sold as Shredded Flour Noodles (see   Using your noodle/s or How to use your noodle/s)

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This recipe has been developed by B Lee/Bright Sun Enterprises.  It may not be reproduced in any form without the author's written permission.