Main Dish

Quick Braised Chicken with Brocolli

Ingredients:

-        Half of a chicken or 500 grammes chicken meat

-        A medium size broccoli, about 350 grammes

-        1 big clove garlic

-        2 tablespoons vegetable oil

-        2/3 cup or 150ml of Chicken broth for broccoli

-        2/3 cup or about 150ml Chicken broth/water for braising the Chicken

-        ½  teaspoon flaky seasalt

-        2 teaspoon cornstarch

-        1 tablespoon water

Marinade:

-        1 teaspoon salt

-        ½ teaspoon sugar

-        Ground pepper

-        1 teaspoon light soy sauce

-        ½ teaspoon dark soy sauce

-        1 teasppon Shaoxing wine

-        1 teaspoon fresh ginger juice

-        2 teaspoon cornstarch

-        1 tablespoon water

-        Drops of sesame oil

Method:

1.      Clean and debone the half chicken except the wing. Pat it dry and cut the thigh into approximately 4cm or 1 ½ “ chunks and the breast into 5cm or 2” chunks. Half the wing by cutting between the mid joint and the drumstick.  Add in the marinade ingredients to the chicken chunks, mix well and put them in the fridge to stand for at least half an hour or longer.

2.      Cut the broccoli into florets about same size as the chicken chunks. Peel off the tough skin of the stem and cut them into ¼ cm or 1/8 “ thin slices. Slightly crush the clove of garlic and coarsely chop it.

3.      Heat up the wok or a big frying pan with 2 tablespoon of cooking oil. When hot, put in the broccoli florets and the stem slices and stir fry for 30 seconds, add in the chicken broth and when boil, cover the wok with a lid for 1 minute. Take the lid off, turn down the heat to medium low, add in the flaky sea salt and continue cooking the broccoli. Stir the broccoli periodically till the broccoli florets and slice are softened and most of the broth is absorbed and the colour is still bright green. Take the broccoli out with a slotted spoon and drain, keep the liquid. (if there is still anything left)  Arrange the florets around the edge of a serving plate.

4.      Clean the wok and reheat it in high heat with 3 tablespoon of cooking oil. When hot, put in the mid joint and the drumstick of the wing and stir fry for 1 minute, then put in the rest of the chicken and quickly stir fry them for another minute. Stir in the chicken broth or water and any liquid left from the broccoli ( should half cover the chicken),  when the liquid starts to boil, turn down the heat to medium low and further cook the chicken for 8 - 10 minutes. When the chicken is done, mix the corn starch with water, add it to the wok and stir to thicken the liquid. 

5.      Pour the chicken and the thickened sauce into the middle of the serving plate and serve.

Hint:

-        You can chop your half chicken instead of debone it, if so, you need to increase your cooking time and the amount of chicken broth to braise them.

-        To make sure you have a good colour of the broccoli, you can blanch them for 1 minute in salt water and then drain them in cold water before you cook them in chicken broth.  However, I am happy with the colour following my recipe. Just make sure you cook the broccoli with the lid on for only 1 minutes in the start, and cook them in open wok for the rest of the time.

-        Do not throw away your broccoli stem, this is the sweetest and crunchiest part! Just peel off the thick skin by pulling them off with a paring knife and cut the stem in relatively thin slices.

-        If you do not have at least half an hour to stand the chicken with marinade in the fridge, do not add the corn starch and water. The corn starch will not be dissolved and absorbed properly in short time, it means the corn starch will stick to the bottom of the pan/wok.