Braised Chicken With Chestnuts

by Fuchsia Dunlop, featured in Every Grain Of Rice

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing

Introduction

Chestnuts are one of China’s native crops and have been cultivated there for millennia. They are grown in many parts of the country, but particularly in the north, where they are used in soups, stews and stir-fries, or ground into flour for breads and sweetmeats. Chicken and chestnuts are a classic Chinese combination. One September morning, I drove out with my friend A Dai into the Zhejiang countryside, through a lush greenness of paddy fields, bamboo groves and lotus ponds, into the teabushed hills. Up a rough track we left the van and walked out into the twittering, humming undergrowth. A little further and there was an orchard of chestnut trees, where we plucked the prickly fruits and peeled open and ate, raw, some of the crunchy young nuts. Later, back at A Dai's restaurant, we tasted more of them, stir-fried with ginger and the meat of a young chicken, a tender dish that can only be enjoyed early in the chestnut season. When the nuts are plumper and more mature, they find their way into braises such as this, perfect for a winter's evening. In China, this would be made with a whole chicken, chopped up on the bone, but this quick version is made with boneless meat. Prepare it in advance if you like and reheat just in time for your meal.

As featured in

Every Grain Of Rice

Image of Fuchsia Dunlop's Braised Chicken with Chestnuts — Photo by Chris Terry

Ingredients

Serves: 4

4 boneless chicken thighs (about 350g)
20 grams ginger (unpeeled)
2 spring onions (white and green parts separated)
3 tablespoons cooking oil
1½ tablespoons shaoxing wine
300 millilitres chicken stock or water
1 tablespoon brown sugar or caster sugar
1½ teaspoons dark soy sauce
200 grams cooked, peeled chestnuts (canned or vacuum-packed)
salt

Method

Braised Chicken With Chestnuts is a guest recipe by Fuchsia Dunlop so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe

Cut the chicken evenly into bite-sized chunks. Crush the ginger and spring onion whites slightly with the side of a cleaver blade or a rolling pin. Cut the spring onion greens into neat 4cm lengths.
Heat the oil in a seasoned wok over a high flame. When it is hot, add the ginger and spring onion whites and stir-fry until you can smell their fragrance. Then add the chicken pieces and fry over a high heat until they are lightly browned: don’t move them around too much, but let them rest against the base of the wok so they have the chance to take on a little colour. Drain off some of the excess fat at this stage if you wish. Splash in the Shaoxing wine and stir well. Then tip in all the stock.
Bring the stock to a boil and add the sugar, soy sauce and chestnuts, with salt to taste (3/4 tsp should do). Then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes to allow the chicken to cook through and the chestnuts to absorb some of the flavours of the sauce, stirring from time to time.
Increase the heat to reduce the liquid if you wish and adjust the seasoning if necessary. At the last minute, add the spring onion greens, cover for just a moment to let them feel the heat, then serve.

Additional Information

To cook and peel your own chestnuts:
Slice off the bases of the raw chestnuts and blanch them in boiling water for a couple of minutes, then drain. When cool enough to handle, remove their shells and inner skins as far as possible.

For gluten-free, use gluten-free tamari in place of soy sauce.