Chestnut Braised Chicken

A juicy, savory, and slightly sweet dish. Think of it more as a template for braising than as an exact list of ingredients.

stuff you’ll need

• Chicken pieces, drumsticks, wings, thighs, whatever. As long as they’re all evenly sized so they cook at the same rate.
• Chestnut
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Star anise
• Dried chilis (optional)
• Soy sauce
• Oyster sauce
• Sugar

preparation

Peel and dry roast the chestnuts in the wok. This will bring out the flavor of the chestnuts more in the final dish. Take the chestnuts out.

Melt some sugar in the wok, and let it become an amber color, effectively caramelizing it. This deepens the flavor of straight white sugar and bringing it more in line with the darker roasted flavors of the final braise. When the sugar darkens add some water to melt the sugar and stop it from burning. Once it’s all melted, take it out.

Add oil into the wok, and once it’s hot enough, add in the chicken to sear it and render some of the fat. Add in some rough chopped garlic, smashed ginger, star anise, and optionally dried chilis. Be careful to not let the aromatics and spices burn. Once the chicken is seared on all sides, add soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, the caramelized sugar water, and extra water as needed to braise.

When the braise is almost done, add in the dry roasted chestnuts to impart the chestnut flavor. Be careful not to add it too early to prevent the chestnuts from overcooking and becoming mush. Unless you like that, more power to you.

notes

The part of this recipe that takes the longest is probably the braise. It takes a while for the flavors to penetrate all the way to the center of the chicken. You could use smaller pieces like wings, or make some slices halfway through the chicken pieces so that theres more area for the flavors to penetrate.

This doesn’t have to be made with chestnuts, but this style braise could be used for a variety of other ingredients. See cooking with color for more ideas. For example, mushrooms and onions would be tasty too, using a similar roasted preparation as the chestnuts. Your feelings are your best friend for exploring these new preparations.