Braised Chicken

I was trying to replicate the braised chicken that I like to eat from the food centre stall downstairs and it was, according to my hubby, 80% alike to the one sold by the stall. Personally, I felt that I could have put less dark soy sauce (coz the colour's much darker than the stall's). My hubby feels that I could have made it a little sweeter and was 'grumbling' about how I'm always so stingy with the amount of sugar I put in my cooking. Hehe...

Braised chicken

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken thighs (skin removed, chopped)
• 5 shallots - sliced thinly
• 3 cloves garlic - minced
• 3cm ginger - peeled and smashed
• 1/2 tablespoon dark soy sauce (I put 1 tablespoon but I think 1/2 is enough)
• sugar to taste (this is the part that my hubby said I could have done better)
• sesame oil
• cornflour
• water/stock

Seasoning (for the chicken):

• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons hua diao jiu
• 1 tablespoon chicken marinade
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• a few dashes of ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cornflour

Method:

1. Clean chicken thighs and remove visible fats.
2. Marinate the thighs with the seasoning overnight preferably.
3. Heat some sesame oil in a wok.
4. Stir-fry the garlic, shallots and ginger in the wok.
5. Add in the chopped chicken thighs and fry till chicken is almost cooked.
6. Add water/stock to the wok, almost covering the chicken pieces.
7. Bring the water/stock to a boil on high heat then turn to low heat and simmer for 20min.
8. Add in the dark soy sauce and sugar to taste.
9. Add in cornflour solution to thicken gravy slightly.
10. Serve hot.