Steamed Chicken with Chinese Sausages 🇨🇳

 

  

This Cantonese dish brings back childhood memories in Hong Kong, and it is one of those home-style dishes you are not likely to find in your local Chinese restaurant and takeaway.  Steamed dishes have a 'quieter' taste than foods that are stir fried or deep fried.  Steaming help preserve the full flavour of the ingredients as any juices that run out of the meat and vegetables during the process are caught in the dish where they are cooked.  In this recipe, chicken thighs are cubed, marinated and steamed together with dried Shiitake mushrooms and Chinese sausages which  gives a perfect balance in taste and a contrast in texture.  You can find both items (pictured above) from the Asian section of most supermarkets. Having said that, I prefer Australian made Chinese sausages which might be harder to find unless you explore the Asian grocery stores.  Serve this hot with rice and steamed vegetables as a complete meal.

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

• 350g / 12oz chicken thigh fillets
• 1-2 Chinese sausages, about 60g / 2¼oz
• 3 medium sized dried Shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Chinese Shaoxin wine 
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• a pinch of white pepper
• ½ teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1 spring onion, chopped, for garnishing

METHOD

1. Soak Shiitake mushrooms in warm water for about 30 minutes until soft.  Gently squeeze out water.  Cut stems off and discard.  Slice each mushroom into quarters.
2. Slice Chinese sausages diagonally into thin pieces.
3. Cut chicken thigh fillets into bite-size cubes.  Remove and discard excess fat.
4. In a bowl, mix chicken with soy sauce, wine, sugar, salt, black pepper, sesame oil and cornflour.  Add oil and mix again. 
5. Transfer the chicken, sausages and mushrooms into a 23cm /9" heatproof dish with sides about 4 cm /1½" high (similar to the one pictured above) to hold the liquid generated  from cooking.  Spread the ingredients evenly in the dish.
6. Steam the dish, covered, in a steaming station for 15 minutes.*  
7. Uncover the steaming station.  With two forks or a pair of tongs, gently separate the pieces in the dish.  Cover and continue to steam for another 5 minutes until the chicken is tender.
8. Remove the dish from the steaming station.  Garnish with chopped spring onions.  Serve hot with rice.

*If you don't have a tier steamer pot, you can use a wok, a large saucepan or a frying pan with a lid to set up a steaming station.  Make sure the heatproof dish fits into your pan leaving some space around it for the steam to come through.  You will also need a steamer rack to support the dish inside the pan.  Fill the pan with water to a depth of about 4 cm / 1½", and bring to a boil.  Place the dish with the prepared food on top of the rack, and cover to steam.  Heat may be reduced but water must be kept boiling during the process.  A useful tool to have is a steamer lifter that allows you to safely lift the hot dish out of the pan without scalding your hands.