Braised Herbal Chicken

This photo doesn't do this dish justice due to poor lighting. It's actually yummier than it looks.

This dish is inspired by my aunt, Aunty M, a bubbly & friendly person and who is a very good cook. Like most cookbooks  I've read, her way of cooking herbal chicken is by wrapping the chicken & herbs together with aluminium foil and then letting the parcel steam in the wok for about an hour. My way however is quite different. It is sorta like a stew, a lazy person's kinda cooking. But I must say, my family literally licked the bowl clean everytime I made this flavorsome dish. :)

Ingredients:

Chicken Thighs about 1kg (chopped to bite size pieces)

1 Bulb Garlic (smashed)

Marinade:

2 Tbs Oyster Sauce

2 Tbs Light Soy Sauce

1 tsp Sugar

a few drops Sesame Oil

a couple shakes of White Pepper

a dash of Tsao Tsing Cooking Wine (optional)

Herbs:

(quantity is approximate, about as much as shown in the pic on the right)

Dang Gui

Dang Shen

Bei Qi

Qi Zi (Wolfberries)

Yu Zhu

Chuan Xiong

Method:

Some pre-cooking is needed for this dish as follows:

1) Pre-boil herbs with 2 cups of water in low heat for about 1 hour to soften and extract their flavor. Set aside.
2) Marinade chopped chicken thighs with marinade for at least an hour.
To cook, brown chicken in a wok/deep pan heated with a little cooking oil (I usually cook my chicken without adding any oil as the chicken is fatty enough and I use a non-stick pan). Add the garlic and stir fry till fragrant. Pour in the left over marinade from the chicken and the boiled herbs mixture. Braise for about 15 to 20 minutes until sauce is a little thicken. Season with salt to taste. Done.