Malaysian Style Braised Chicken With Bitter Gourd
Braised chicken with bitter gourd is a classic home-cooked dish that most Asian Chinese households 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.
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Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 500 g chicken, (skin removed, cut into bite size pieces, 2 whole legs)
- 1 bitter gourd, large , 500g
- 1 inch ginger, sliced thickly
- 2 tablespoon garlic, chopped finely
- 1 ½ tablespoons yellow bean paste, or taucho
- 1 tablespoon fermented black beans, rinse and drained
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch, + 1 tablespoon water for thickening
(Marinade)
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- ½ tablespoon cornstarch
(Seasoning) - mix together in a bowl
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 1 cup water
- Clean chicken with some salt, rinse and drained well. Remove skin from chicken and cut into bite size pieces.
- Mix well all ingredients for marinade into the chicken and marinade for about half an hour.
- Cut the bitter gourd in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a spoon. Cut each half crosswise into 3 inch in length. Then cut each piece lengthwise into strips of about 3/4 inch in width. Rub the cut bitter gourd with salt.
- Bring a pan of water to a boil. Blanch the bitter gourd for about 1 minute. Drain and rinse the bitter gourd in cold water. Set aside.
- Heat up 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a wok. Saute half the garlic and ginger until fragrant. Then add chicken. Stir fry chicken 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 bit more oil. When oil is hot, add in the remaining half garlic and ginger. Stir fry until aromatic and lightly browned. Then add the yellow bean paste and fermented black bean. Stir to mix well.
- Add in bitter gourd and saute, followed by the chicken pieces. Mix well together.
- Pour in the gravy mixture (seasoning), stir well and bring 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.
- Then add the cornstarch paste. Toss the chicken and the bitter gourd until sauce thickens.
- Dish out and serve hot with steamed rice.
Instructions
Enjoy!
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