Braising, also called lu wei in Mandarin, is a Chinese cooking technique used to cook protein ingredients in an aromatic sauce base. Other terms used are red cooking, red braising or red stewing. The Sauce base is usually made from soy sauce, dark soy sauce, fermented bean paste, red fermented tofu, Chinese rice wine, caramelised sugar and spices like cinnamon, cloves, star anise or five spice powder. There are numerous regional and home cooking variations to Chinese braising dishes, different meats like chicken, pork, beef, tofu and hard boiled eggs are often used, together with vegetables like shiitake mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, radish and tomato. Normally the tougher cuts of the meat are used and braising makes the meat tender with a mouth-watering and enticing flavour. Braises are also typical comfort food for the whole family all year round and are popular dishes served during festive seasons like the Chinese New Year.
For my gluten free home cooking recipe, I am using chicken breasts pieces, hard boiled eggs and shiitake mushrooms cooked in a dark soy sauce base spiced up with ginger, garlic, cloves and star anise. This recipe is also dairy free and nut free. My other gluten free braises, stews, casseroles recipes are Pork and Black Fungus Mushrooms Stew; Braised Chicken with Shiitake Mushrooms; Braised Pork and Fermented Mustard Greens; Chinese Soy Sauce Chicken, Beef with Chinese Water Chestnuts Stew and Chinese Braised Chicken and Potato.
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 5 garlic cloves peeled and finely minced
- 5 cm ginger peeled and thinly sliced
- 1.2 kg skinless and boneless chicken breasts trimmed and roughly cut into 1 inch pieces
- 22 dried shiitake mushrooms soak in hot water for 30 mins. Stalks removed and cut into halves
- 8 hard-boiled eggs refer relevant recipe
- 1 large star anise
- 6 cloves
- 1 tablespoon gluten free corn maize starch mix with ¼ cup water
- 1 ½ cups water
- Steamed rice to serve
For the Sauce:
- 10 tablespoons of gluten free kecap manis dark/thick soy sauce (refer relevant recipe)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
- ¼ cup pale or medium dry sherry
Instructions
- Mix and combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and set aside.
- Heat up a wok with 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, stir-fry the garlic on low heat until lightly golden. Add in the all the chicken pieces, shiitake mushrooms, star anise, cloves plus the sauce and stir-fry for 15 minutes on medium to high heat.
- Then add in gluten free corn (maize) starch mixture and water, stir and mix well. Then cover with a wok lid and bring to a rolling boil, turn the heat down to low and let the chicken and shiitake mushrooms cook for 15 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
- Remove only the chicken and set aside in a large bowl.
- Add the hard-boiled eggs into the wok with the braising sauce and cook for 10 minutes, stirring and moving the eggs around to gently coat the eggs with the sauce.
- Return the cooked chicken to the wok to reheat, taking care not to break the eggs.
- Serve with steamed rice.
Notes
I like food that comes in a bowl. something comforting about it. Nice recipe. R
I agree that so many comfort food usually comes in a bowl. Thanks Rosana. ????
Simple nad easy to create this is a great recipe.I love your photos too and the background board is beautiful.
This is a great one pot dish. Thanks Nayna! 🙂