Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and Chestnut

I have never been a fan for chestnuts. I know a lot of people loves to eat that. My mum can cook very nice braised chicken with mushrooms and chestnuts. I would eat the chicken and mushrooms and leave the chestnuts for my other family members. I know my mum spend quite some time to take out the skin and the red thingy of the chestnuts. When I was young, I used to help my mum do that. And I really don't like the job. Perhaps that's why I don't like to eat chestnuts ;p.  

That day I was watching my fav taiwan cook show 吃饭皇帝大again. And they are teaching how to cook this dish. What caught my attention is they are using the packet roasted chestnuts (those that are eaten as tidbits) to cook this dish! Hmm what a good idea. It saves the time to prepare the chestnuts which I hate to do and the tidbit chestnuts are already pretty delicious. 

I must say I am pretty lucky in buying groceries. Whenever I feel like cooking something special, I would managed to get it in the supermart in Chinatown. The packet roasted chestnut just pop up in a corner near the cashier! Da da I must cook this dish than! 

Surprisingly, I love the chestnuts in this dish! It's soft with a little charcoal BBQ taste. And it matches very well with the mushrooms and chicken. It tasted better with this ready cooked chestnuts perhaps because of the roasted taste and it's fuss free! Will definitely cook this dish again!

Ingredients:

1) 1 packet of roasted chestnuts

2) 10 medium size dried mushrooms cut into half (Soaked in water to soften the dried mushrooms)

3) 1 to 2 Skinless chicken thigh meat cut into chunks (depends on the size of the chicken thigh)

4) 3 garlic minced

5) 5 slices of ginger

6) 1 stalk of spring onion cut into half

7) 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce

8) 1 tablespoon of soya sauce

9) 1 tablespoon of Shao Xing wine

10) Pepper

11) Corn starch

12) A few pieces of crystal sugar

13) Water used to soak the mushrooms

Marinate for chicken:

1) 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce

2) 1 tablespoon of soya sauce

3) 1 tablespoon of Shao Xing wine

4) Pepper

5) Corn starch

Steps:

1) Marinate the chicken with oyster sauce, soya sauce, wine, pepper and corn starch.

2) Heat some oil in the pan, add in the garlic, ginger, spring onion and stir fry for a while.

3) Add in the mushroom and stir fry until you can smell the fragrance of the mushrooms.

4) Add in the chicken. Lay it in one layer on the pan. Let the chicken cook on the pan for a while until it turns a bit browned. Browned the other side of the chicken.

5) Add in the chestnuts. Than add in the oyster sauce and soya sauce. Stir fry all the ingredients with the sauces.

6) Add in the shaoxing wine, water and sugar. 

7) Cover the pan with a lid and let it simmer for around 5 minutes.

8) Take the lid away and let it simmer for another few minutes so that the sauces reduces a bit.

9) If you find that it is too watery, you can add in some corn starch mixture to thicken it.

PS: You can add in some dried scallops if you want a richer taste. You can add in hot water to soak the scallops. When they are soft, break it into pieces. Add in the scallops in step 5. The water for soaking the scallops can be added together with the mushroom water.