Main Dish

Steamed Chicken and Shitake Mushroom Wrapped in Chinese Tien Jin Cabbage ( Won Bok)

Ingredients:

-         2 boneless chicken thighs, with or without skin

-         16 pieces similar size Tien Jin cabbage (won bok) leaves (please see hint below)

-         8 medium size shitake mushroom, dried or fresh

-         4 streaky bacon rashers (optional)

-         Big pot of boiling water

-         Coarse sea salt for blanching.

-         16 tooth picks

Seasoning:

-         Ground pepper

-         ½ teaspoon flaky sea salt

-         1 teaspoon light soy sauce

-         ¼ teaspoon caster sugar

-         1 teaspoon fresh root ginger juice

-         Drops of sesame oil

Sauce:

-         1 dried scallop (conpoy)

-         ¼ teaspoon flaky sea salt

-         2 teaspoon corn starch

-         1 tablespoon water

-         ½ cup chicken broth or the juice given out when steaming the chicken wraps

Method:

1.      Rehydrate the dried shitake mushroom ( for dried mushroom only) and dried scallop by soaking them in water for 2 – 3 minutes, drain them and soak them again in water. Soak the mushroom till they are soft and squeeze them dry. Soak the dry scallop till soft, squeeze it dry and shred them by hand. Set them aside and keep the soaking liquid.

2.      Clean, drain and dry the chicken thigh with paper towel, cut each of them into 8 equal pieces and season them with ground pepper, sea salt, light soy sauce, sugar, ginger juice and a few drops of sesame oil.

3.      Cut each shitake mushroom into 2 equal parts by slicing them at a 45 degree angle. Also cut each bacon rasher into 4 even pieces (optional).

4.      Select the cabbage leaves near the core, clean and drain them. Cut the bigger ones lengthwise to achieve all leaves in similar width. Heat a big pot of water to boil, add coarse salt and blanch the cabbage leaves. Take them out as soon as they are softened. Drain and pat them dry.

5.      Place a piece of chicken, mushroom and bacon (optional) at the leafy end of the cabbage leaf and roll them up to the top as picture above. Close them with a tooth pick, put all the parcels in a serving plate and steam them in a wok or steamer for 10 minutes.

6.      Meanwhile, put the water that soaked the scallop in a saucepan or frying pan, when it starts boiling, turn down the heat to medium low and put in the shredded scallop to simmer. If more liquid is needed when simmering, add little by little the water that soaked the mushroom. The liquid should all be absorbed when the scallop is cooked and completely softened. Turn the heat off and wait for the cabbage to be ready.

7.      When the cabbage parcels are ready, carefully pour out the juice that the parcels have released during steaming into the saucepan or the frying pan with the shredded scallop. Turn the heat back on, mix the corn starch and water, when the juice boils, add in salt and the corn starch mix in and keep stirring with a wooden spoon till the juice thickens and become sauce.

8.      Take out the tooth picks that hold the cabbage parcels, pour the scallop sauce on top and serve.

Hint:

-        Choose the cabbage leaves near the core because their fibres are not as stringy as the outer leaves.  It will be difficult to have 16 leaves in similar size, just cut the bigger ones lengthwise and make sure the width of the leaves are similar. The difference in length is not important.

-        If fresh shitake mushroom is used, no soaking requires, just half them in a 45 degree cut, this reduce the thickness of the mushroom but maintain a similar size with the chicken pieces and the bacon

-        If health is a concern, do not use the bacon. If bacon is used, streaky bacon is recommended.

-        If you want to introduce another texture to the dish, you could deep fried the shredded scallop instead and sprinkle them on top of the sauce before serving.