Stir Fried Shiitake Mushroom with Chicken

This stir fried Shiitake mushroom with chicken dish is so easy to make. The meaty texture of fresh shiitake mushrooms is very soft and smooth. It doesn’t take very long to be cooked through as the dried ones do. What will amaze you is that Shiitake mushrooms will take up all the flavours of the meat and sauce.

This time I used mirin, one of the common staples in Japanese cooking to make the sauce, with a bit of soy sauce. The whole chicken dish turned out very flavoursome. The chicken meat was just cooked through and retained a tender texture.

The highlight of the dish is the sauce that will make you don't want to waste a drop of it at all. This dish goes perfectly with a bowl of steamed rice.

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Braised Chu Hou Chicken Wings (柱侯雞翼)

Finding balance between a busy schedule and enjoying quality meals at home can be effortless with the right approach. This Braised Chu Hou Chicken Wings recipe delivers authentic Cantonese flavors with minimal time and effort, making it an ideal choice for quality-conscious home cooks.

If you love the classic Hong Kong hot pot dish, stewed brisket with Chu Hou paste (柱侯牛腩) like me, you will like this braised chicken wings.

The rich, savory, and slightly sweet notes of fermented soybean Chu Hou paste perfectly coat every piece of chicken wing, creating a deeply satisfying dish that pairs exceptionally well with warm steamed rice. Cooking does not need to be complicated to be nourishing. By streamlining the cooking process into a 15-minute quick stir-fry and braise, this recipe preserves simple ingredients while ensuring a balanced meal with added fresh peppers and onions. Embracing everyday grace through shared meals allows us to slow down and appreciate life's quiet moments. Simplify your routine, cook efficiently, and dedicate your saved time to what matters most.

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Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs (One-Pan Dish)

These chicken thighs were cooked with lemon, garlic and my favourite herds, rosemary and thyme. My kitchen was full of the fragrant smell, increasing the appetite of the whole family.

I’m getting to love one-pan dish more and more. It’s handy and save up energy to do cleaning up, just like one-plate dish.

The taste of one-pan dish won’t be comprised at all, still very delicious.

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Lemon Job’s Tears Tea/Drink

This lemon Job’s tears tea is both appetizing and refreshing. I love its lemony aroma and mild natural sweetness, helping to lift up my spirit.

Job’s tears are traditionally used for ages in Chinese home cooking. It becomes a rising healthy star in the recent food scene. Not only it can help to improve indigestion, diarrhea, and trouble urinating, but also lower cholesterol and prevent cancer. More and more western people try to incorporate these tiny grains in drinks, salad or porridge.

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Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry

How nice would it be when having a tasty dish of chicken curry with a bowl of hot rice?

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Wood Ear and Chicken Soup

Wood ear is a kind of edible fungus often used in Chinese cooking. Wood ear is black in colour, so looks not quite appealing to eyes. Yet, we can’t underestimate its value to our health. It can help lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

I often use wood ear in my cooking, like Chinese New Year traditional dish, stir-fry with chicken, make the classic hot and sour soup and imitation shark fin soup.  If you feel like having a vegetarian dish, wood ear will work with many vegetables. You can make this Stir Fried Bean Sprouts, Carrots & Wood Ear Fungus dish. When I make dumplings, I also like putting in some wood ear to add a texture in the fillings. Ever thought about making san choi bao (lettuce wraps) with wood ears? They taste really good with roast duck meat too.

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Bandit Chicken Wings (土匪雞翼)

This is a signature side dish of a popular noodle restaurant in Hong Kong, very well-known and loved by local people. Believe me, the taste of these Bandit chicken wings is wonderfully good.

I have no clue how this dish name came up. The word of “bandit” might put some people off to try. The soul of this dish is the spice, cumin, that makes all the baked chicken wings smell pleasantly and take the whole dish up a notch.

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Asparagus, Chicken and Walnuts Stir Fry

Ever tried stir frying asparagus with walnuts? The crunchiness of walnuts and crisp asparagus stems are so enjoyable.

Asparagus is regarded as a classy vegetable and you have to pay more than other vegetables in restaurants. Lucky me, I’d find some fresh asparagus, available at a bargain price in supermarkets every now and then through out the year.

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Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry (Video)

Ever tried adding some crunchy cashews in your stir-fried dishes? I grew up with this traditional stir-fried dish, cashew chicken stir-fry. It’s good for a daily meal or even family gatherings. 

Cashews will add an interesting texture and make a contrast of the tender chicken meat. You can use any vegetables for the stir-fry instead of using celery. It’s very easy to make and flexible for you to add any vegetables you like.

In traditional Chinese cooking, cashews are often deep-fried in oil in order to make them crunchy. If you have an oven, simply bake them in an oven. Or pan-fry them in a pan without any oil. The result will be equally crunchy, and you can consume less oil.

As for chicken meat, I like using chicken thigh as the texture is good for stir-frying and the price is cheaper. You can use chicken breast if you want. It won't make any difference in taste.

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Braised Chicken with Radish

The sweetness of both radish and carrot makes the meat taste even better. If you like packing lunch for work or school, this dish is a great choice.

Radish is in season here. Price is crazily good, under 1 dollar per kilogram. They are beautiful, sweet and juicy, not like those taste bitter and with woody hearts.

In Chinese cooking, we often like to balance radish with carrot as radish brings cooling effect on our body in Chinese medicine's perspective.

I like the white and red colour combination too. The sweetness of both radish and carrot makes the meat taste even better. If you like packing lunch for work or school, this dish is a great choice.

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Honey Balsamic Chicken Wings

Combining Chinese light soy sauce, Italian Balsamic vinegar, Thai Sriracha sauce and fragrant honey, this chicken wing dish is so flavoursome.

There are countless methods of cooking chicken wings. It could be Asian, Western or Asian-Western fusion ways.

No matter what way I use, I aim to get the best taste to feed my family. Combining Chinese light soy sauce, Italian Balsamic vinegar, Thai Sriracha sauce and fragrant honey, this chicken wing dish is so flavoursome.

Top left: Balsamic vinegar and honey.

The family didn’t want to waste a tiny drop of the honey-balsamic sauce on the plate.

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Shaoxing Goji Chicken (花雕杞子雞煲)

Traditionally, this Shaoxing Goji Chicken is a claypot dish made in winter days. I reckon this dish can be enjoyed on any days throughout the year. It’s so tasty with splendid aroma, perfectly goes with steamed rice.

I like the colour contrast of this chicken dish. It’s so appealing to the family’s eyes. Once it’s served on our dining table, everyone was eager to dig in and taste.

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Braised Chicken Wings with Potatoes

If you’ve lived in Hong Kong for a while, you would’ve known this dish, Braised Chicken Wings with Potatoes, or tasted it before. It’s so homey and tasty dish.

I miss this braised chicken wing dish so much. If you’ve lived in Hong Kong for a while, you would’ve known this dish or tasted it before. It’s so homey and tasty.

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Poached Chicken in Spicy Sauce (貴妃雞)

Traditional poached chicken is very popular in Hong Kong. If the chicken is just cooked through with silky smooth skin and the meat is succulent, it’s a high-praised dish that’s well-accepted by everyone.

To make silky succulent poached chicken, it’s not that difficult as we thought. All you need to do is to submerse and soak the chicken in a bowl of iced water to stop the inner cooking once the chicken is done. The skin will be kept very smooth and the meat won’t be over-cooked.

For making this special poached chicken, you can simply skip the soak-in-iced-water step, still can achieve the same effect. The simple trick is to prepare a bowl of cold spicy brine to get the cooked chicken soaked in it. It’s very straightforward and simple.

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Orange-Honey Sriracha Chicken Wings

These sticky and yummy wings made with Sriracha and honey are that you don't want to miss every bit of them.

I love cooking chicken wings. If you click to browse the recipe index, you’ll find many chicken wing dishes already posted on this blog. What I love about cooking wings is that they can be turned into many tasty dishes without any difficulty.

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Baked Honey Lemon Chicken Drumsticks

What we loved about these baked chicken drumsticks is their juicy and succulent meat with tasty lemon and honey sauce.

No matter tucking in with our clean hands or knife and fork, we felt the finger lick'n drumsticks are so good.

To make this dish, either for your family or party finger food, it won’t be wrong at all. One side note, either thawed (if frozen) or fresh drumsticks can be used to make this delicious dish.

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Malaysian Satay Chicken

The taste of this satay chicken is so authentic and wonderfully delicious. The recipe was from a friend who was a chef in Malaysia. How could it be?

We held a Hong Kong style BBQ party some time ago, grilling foods on charcoal. The Malaysian chef bought some marinated satay chicken to share with us.

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Steamed Chicken with Sand Ginger Powder (沙薑雞)

This steamed chicken with Sand Ginger powder dish is very simple and delicious.  It's a traditional Chinese dish, best served with steamed rice and ginger and scallion dipping.

Simple is the best. You can’t imagine how nice the taste of this steamed chicken was. The chicken meat is so tender and silky smooth, steamed to just cooked. If you like the traditional, popular Chinese steamed chicken (白切雞), you have to try this dish as well, if you haven’t.

Try to use organic or free-range chicken if you can to ensure the best result. Having said that, I used corn-fed chicken this time. So, that’s why my steamed chicken was in bright, lovely yellow colour. The end result remained wonderfully good.

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Lemongrass Chicken Wings (Video)

These lemongrass chicken wings are perfect for grilling or BBQ, or even simply pan-frying. They will taste great and wonderful.

Chicken wings are always a big hit in my family. You can’t be wrong if you bring along some yummy wings to share in any party or BBQ gatherings. I just pan-fried the marinated wings, and was very satisfied with their BBQ-like looking. The taste of the chicken wings was sensational with rich flavours.

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Papaya and Chicken Feet Soup (Instant Pot + Stove Top Recipe)

Hope the chicken feet won’t scare you off. As a matter of fact, this soup is very tasty, as a result it earned its popularity in Chinese community. This soup is put on high priority on my menu as my family loves it so much.

When I first moved into Australia, I could ask for chicken feet for free from supermarkets because most Australian didn’t like chicken feet. So the staff would throw them away. They’re so glad that if you asked and would give you a large packet. Now a small amount of chicken feet costs quite expensive instead.

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