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Easy braised sea cucumber, chicken and mushrooms with Chu Hou Paste



I cooked sea cucumber for the first time, and I really like it, especially the chewy texture. For all these years, I've never considered cooking it since I assumed it would be challenging to prepare at home. It's not too hard to cook this food; the tricky part is soaking the dried sea cucumber in preparation.

My husband received a pack of eight sea cucumber slices from his uncle. This sea cucumber weighs about 300 grammes and is about 6 inches long. The fact that this sea cucumber has been cleaned and soaked is the greatest part. This meal is much simpler to prepare because the soaking sea cucumbers step is skipped.

I browsed at a lot of recipes on YouTube and recipe books before deciding on a braised sea cucumber with chicken and fresh mushrooms. Came up with this simple, hassle-free way considering the little amount of time I had to cook.

In addition to being a luxury cuisine, sea cucumbers have a great deal of medical value. The sea cucumber is slippery (almost gelatinous) and tastes bland.  The flesh is elastic, soft, and simple to absorb and digest. It is ideal for the elderly, kids, pregnant women, and weak people. When cooked, it absorbs the flavors of the condiments it is paired with.

Simmering the sea cucumbers for too long will cause them to fall apart. For this reason, the chicken needs to be seared until it is mostly cooked. The last 10 minutes of cooking let the chicken absorb the braising or cooking liquid, which will give it a rich, flavorful taste.

Chinese cuisine often uses oyster sauce. Check out these delicious and genuine Chu Hou Paste Recipes! An underappreciated condiment, Chu Hou paste is great in braised meats, stews, and delicious stir fries, among other Chinese meals. Chu Hou paste has a thick consistency and a dark colour. It is very savoury and salty, with a hint of sweetness and a nice tang from the fermentation process. It’s something like a less sweet Hoisin sauce with thicker consistency. You can use Hoisin sauce instead of Zhu Hou sauce although the taste will be slightly different, it can make the meat taste better.




You can thicken the gravy without adding any corn starch solution by using fresh mushrooms. If you are using dried shitake mushroom.  Add a little water containing corn starch to thicken the sauce.

Let us get ready the ingredients to hand and detailed instructions to make this delicious, braised chicken with sea cucumber and mushrooms dish.

 

INGREDIENTS

2 pcs sea cucumber (550 g)

2 chicken legs

10 pcs fresh mushrooms

2 tbsp rock sugar

1 cup water or chicken broth

2 inches ginger, sliced

1 stick scallion, white part

5 cloves garlic

3 shallots

1 red chili

3 dried chilies

2-star anise

1 cinnamon stick

2 bay leaves

 

Marinade sauce

2 tbsp Chu Hou sauce

1 tbsp Oyster paste

1 tsp light soy sauce

½ tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

 

Stir- fry sauce

1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

½ tbsp Chu Hou paste

½ tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp light soy sauce

 


METHOD

1. Cut the chicken legs into bite size pieces. Combine the marinade ingredients onto the chicken and mix well with your hands to make sure each piece of chicken is coated. Set aside to marinate for 10 minutes.

2. Soak the dried chilies, bay leaves, star anise and cinnamon stick in a bowl of clean water for 15 minutes to remove the dirt and dust.

3. Cut the garlic and shallots into small chucks. Slice the ginger and cut the scallion into short lengths. Slice the red chili into small size for garnishing.

4. Cut the fresh mushrooms in half and the sea cucumbers into big chunks.

5. Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying wok over low heat. Add the rock sugar and let it melt over medium heat allowing it to caramelize until it is a very dark brown in colour. Add in the chicken thighs in a single layer, let them sear for 2 minutes. Flip them over and then continue to let them cook for another 2 minutes. You really want to get some nice color on them! Remove and set aside. At this stage, the chicken is mostly cooked and will finish cooking in the sauce later.

6. Heat the wok with some oil. Once hot, sauté the ginger, garlic, shallots, and scallion until fragrance. Add the sea cucumber and stir fry for a few minutes then pour in the water, stir fry sauce, mushrooms as well as the herbs ready on step (2). Let it cook and simmer for 10 minutes. Add in the chicken, bring it to boil and simmer for another 10 minutes without covering the lid. Let the chicken, sea cucumbers and mushrooms soak up braising or cooking liquid. Taste and adjust to your personal preference and toss with the sliced chilies and serve.

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