This tender bone-in chicken dish, stewed in a pungent mixture of wine and black sesame oil, pays homage to one of the dishes commonly prepared for new mothers in Taiwan. It was once the custom for mothers to eat stewed chicken with sesame oil everyday for the first month after giving birth to a child. These days, many families still follow the tradition and serve this dish to new mothers, although perhaps not every day.

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Ingredients

• One whole chicken
• 10 slices of ginger
• ¼ cup (4 Tbsp) black sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp black sesame oil
• 1 cup rice wine
• 2 cups water
• 1 Tbsp sugar

Instructions

1. Clean the chicken and cut into large pieces approximately two inches in size. (If you’re new to meat preparation, you can refer to this great video by Martin Yan for a demonstration on how to quickly slice up a chicken into pieces.)
2. Heat ¼ cup of black sesame oil under medium temperature in a pot or wok. Add ginger and sauté until the ginger turns dry and fragrant.
3. Add chicken pieces to the pot and cook until the meat turn pale, then add wine, water and sugar. Cook and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook for 40 minutes.
4. Finally, add a single tablespoon of black sesame oil before serving.
5. You may serve this with thin noodles. Add more water and rice wine to increase the quantity of soup.

Tips

Salt is not needed for this recipe and is in fact not recommended, adding salt may result in a bitter taste. If you really must add salt, add it at the end of cooking. Some people may prefer to use wine only instead of a mixture of wine and water for cooking.  An all-wine approach yields a delicious, strong-flavored result, but the alcohol may render the dish unsuitable for children to consume.

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Crispy Shrimp-Stuffed Chicken adds a twist to the traditional hundred flower chicken dish:  tender chicken is stuffed with shrimp, then deep fried to a crackling finish. In the traditional recipe, “hundred flowers” refers to what is placed inside the chicken to make this signature dish, from shrimp paste to mushrooms to crab, depending on the regional variation. This version of the chicken dish is stuffed with shrimp paste to add texture and a mild, sweet, surprising flavor.

Ingredients:

• 15 shrimp, medium to large sized, peeled and deveined
• 2 chicken legs, boneless with skin
• ¼ Tbsp. chopped green onion
• ½ egg white
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp. rice wine
• 1 Tbsp. corn starch (or tapioca starch)
• 1 tsp. sesame oil

Instructions:

1. Chop shrimp into a paste, then add green onion, egg white, salt, white pepper, wine, and corn starch. Stir until the shrimp paste is well mixed, then blend sesame oil into the mixture until it is smooth.
2. On the chicken legs, make some light vertical and horizontal cuts on the meat side. Do not make cuts in the the skin. This will help the shrimp paste adhere to the meat.
3. Lay one chicken leg flat on a plate with meat side up. Sprinkle some salt on the meat first, then evenly spread a layer of shrimp paste (1/2 of what you have made) onto the chicken. Place the second piece on a plate and do the same. Cover each plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
4. Heat 3 Tbsp. of cooking oil in a pan or skillet. Place one stuffed chicken in, skin side down, and pan fry for three minutes under low heat. Next, flip over the chicken, and pan fry the other side three to four minutes, covered, until it is light golden brown in color.
5. Flip the chicken again and cook the skin side for another four to five minutes on low heat, covered, until the skin is also a light golden brown. Remove the cover, raise the heat to medium, and continue cooking for another one minute to make the chicken crispy, checking the skin occasionally to make sure it doesn’t burn. Remove chicken to a plate when it is done. Continue in the same way to cook the other stuffed chicken piece.
6. Cut the chicken into pieces and garnish with greens. Sprinkle ground pepper as desired. Serve immediately. Make four to five servings.

Tip

You can also deep fry the chicken fillet by using enough cooking oil to cover the fillet. This allows you to avoid having to flip the chicken to cook both sids, but you will need to have a deep fryer and use a larger quantity of cooking oil.

Ingredients

• One whole chicken – about 2 to 3 lbs (or chicken legs)
• 20 cloves garlic, peeled
• 10 slices ginger
• 1/3 cup sesame oil
• ½ to 2/3 cup soy sauce (depends on the size of chicken)
• 1 cup rice wine
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 cup fresh basil

Instructions

1. Clean the chicken and cut into 2″ x 2″ chunks.
2. Heat sesame oil in a deep pan over medium heat, and sauté ginger and garlic until fragrant.
3. Add chicken to the pan and stir fry until the meat turns pale. This should take approximately 4 to 5 minutes.
4. Add soy sauce, wine and sugar to the pan and cover the dish with a lid. Cook over medium-low heat until liquid is mostly absorbed.
5. Add basil and stir fry for another minute.
6. Serve the chicken in the clay or ceramic pot.

Tip

There is no need to smash the garlic cloves; they will become very soft and flavorful after cooking.  Note that a clay or ceramic pot is best for maintaining food temperature in this recipe.