Fujian Red Wine Chicken

Chicken braised in the lees left over from making rice wine, which colour the dish deep red and carry all of its flavour.

Chicken. Not vegetarian — contains chicken.

Ingredients

8 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on
150 g red yeast rice lees
60 g ginger, in matchsticks
6 cloves garlic, sliced
150 ml rice wine
2 tablespoons flavourless oil
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
200 ml water
100 g dried wood ear mushrooms, soaked and torn
3 spring onions, in lengths

Method

THE LEES ARE THE WHOLE FLAVOUR AND THEY ARE NOT A COLOURING. What is left in the jar after rice wine is made is a thick red sediment, winey and slightly sweet and faintly sour, and it is the only seasoning of substance here -- no soy, no stock. Red food colouring and a splash of wine produces something that looks identical and tastes of nothing.
AND THEY BURN EASILY, which is why they go in after the chicken has browned and not before. There is sugar and starch in them and they catch on a hot dry pan in under a minute; once caught, the bitterness is through the whole dish.
Chicken thighs patted dry and seasoned with the salt.
Oil in a heavy pan over a medium-high heat, thighs in skin side down, and left 6 minutes without moving until the skin is golden and releases on its own.
Turned, 2 minutes on the other side, then lifted out.
Heat down to LOW. Ginger and garlic in the chicken fat, 2 minutes until soft and fragrant but not coloured.
The lees in, stirred constantly for 2 minutes only. They will darken and smell strongly of wine. Keep the spoon moving the whole time.
Rice wine in, which lifts anything stuck from the base, then the water and the sugar.
Chicken back in skin side up with the wood ears, brought to a bare simmer, lid on.
35 minutes, turning the pieces once halfway. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon; if it is still thin, lift the chicken out and reduce it hard for 5 minutes.
Spring onions through at the end, off the heat.
It is better the next day and the colour deepens overnight.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under China · All recipes