Braised Young Chicken with Chestnuts
Young chicken and chestnuts are braised together, producing tender, springy chicken and soft, glutinous chestnuts with mellow sweetness and a savory aroma.
Ingredients
young hen (remove head and claws during prep; reserve the gizzard and liver)
1000 g
chestnuts (cut a cross on the shell, then peel)
200 g
chicken broth
600 g
soy sauce
50 g
vegetable oil (about 75 g actually consumed)
250 g
cooked pork fat
50 g
scallion segments
25 g
fine salt
1.5 g
MSG
1.5 g
wet starch
20 g
Instructions
1
Step 1
Wash the young hen. Split the head and claws in half, cut the breast and wing sections into 6 pieces, cut the remaining parts into 3 cm cubes, chop each chicken leg into 2 segments, cut the chicken neck into 4 cm segments, split each chicken wing into 4 pieces, and score a fine crosshatch pattern on the surface. With a knife, cut a cross into the shell of each chestnut, drop them into a pot of boiling water and cook over high heat for 5 minutes, then remove and peel off the shells.
2
Step 2
Set a wok over high heat, pour in the vegetable oil and heat to 70% hot (when small bubbles form around a chopstick). Add the chicken pieces and fry for 5 minutes, then remove. Pour out the oil, add the chicken broth, chestnuts, soy sauce, fine salt, sugar, chicken gizzard, and chicken liver, and bring to a vigorous boil over high heat for 10 minutes, until the meat is tender and the chestnuts are soft and starchy. Stir in the cooked pork fat, MSG, and white scallion segments, thicken with wet starch, then plate and serve.
