Steamed Chicken with Wood Ears and Dried Lily Buds

Steamed chicken has been my most favourite dish cooked by my mother from childhood. Many young kids don’t like eating those foods in dark or black in colour. I and my daughter might be the odd ones. I love the black fungus, cloud ears and wood ears very much, especially steamed with chicken. The texture of cloud ears is so delicate and smooth, absorbed all the goodies of chicken after steaming. My daughter would pick all the cloud ears to eat and always complaints that she couldn’t have enough of them.

Steamed Chicken with Wood Ears and Dried Lily Buds (Printable recipe)
By Christine's Recipes
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Yield: 3 to 4 serves

Ingredients:

• 580 gm free-range chicken
• 15 gm dried lily buds
• 10 gm cloud ears
• 10 dried, pitted red dates
• 1 to 2 shiitake mushrooms
• shredded ginger, to taste
• diced spring onion,for garnish

Seasonings:

• 3 tsp light soy sauce
• ½ tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp cornflour/corn starch
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• white pepper, to taste
• sesame oil,to taste

Method:

• Rinse the chicken and wipe dry with paper towels. Cut into smaller pieces. Mix well with the seasonings, cover and let it rest for about 20 minutes.
• Soak the dried lily buds, cloud ears, dried red dates and mushrooms separately until softened. Blanch the lily buds and cloud ears in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Drain well. Remove any dirts of the cloud ears and trim into smaller pieces. Cut mushrooms into strips. Mix with the marinated chicken and add the ginger.
• Steam the chicken in a wok over high heat with a lid on, for about 20 minutes, or until cooked through. If no blood in the chicken, it’s done. Garnish with spring onion. Serve immediately.

Notes:

• Dried wood ears will become 5 to 6 times bigger in size after being dehydrated.
• You might like to debone the chicken before cooking. As for Chinese traditional cooking, we like steamed chicken with bones. My hubby feels those chicken meat on bones more delicious than those off the bones.