Mum's Style Red Rice Wine Ginger Chicken (老妈子的红酒姜鸡)

When I was in Malaysia two weeks ago, mum showed me a bottle of homemade red wine (made from rice) that my cousin gave her. Since then, I have been thinking of her 红酒姜鸡 - Red Wine Ginger Chicken (direct translation)! It is not the "normal" ginger chicken dish that can be found at Chinese restaurants. It is cooked with heaps of gingers and the special homemade red wine for women during confinement! Mum cooked this for my sisters during their confinement as Chinese believe that ginger is good for expelling wind from the body after giving birth. I got to eat too, but I only allowed to eat a little bit as it was too "heaty" for me. When mum cooked it as part of daily meals, she reduced the amount of ginger and sesame oil to reduce the "heat".

I cooked the ginger-reduced version today, but it still called for lots of ginger. For your information, the one my mum cooked for my sisters called for double or maybe triple amount of ginger and sesame oil. I just love the spicy gingery kick in this dish, I can eat a lot of steamed rice with the gravy. By the way, the goodies of this dish is the gravy...

Ingredients (2 servings):

¼ chicken, cut into serving size

120g ginger, minced

3 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked/softened in the warm water then sliced

1 tsp corn starch

2 cups red rice wine or hua diao - 花雕 (cooking wine)

3 tbsp cooking oil

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Squeeze and reserve the ginger juice.
2. Heat cooking oil in wok, stir in ginger and fry until golden brown. Remove all ginger and half amount of the oil, set aside for later use.
3. Add in sesame oil into the same wok, then stir-fry the chicken until all sides are caramelised.
4. Coat sliced mushroom with corn flour, then add in to the wok. Stir-fry together with chicken for 1 minute.
5. Stir in dark soy sauce, fried ginger, ginger juice and wine. Mix well. Cover and let it simmer on low heat for 15 to 20 minutes.
6. Add salt to taste. Garnish with coriander and serve with steamed rice.