Braised chicken with dried shiitake

Method

1. Marinate the chicken twenty minutes with soy, a tablespoon of oyster sauce, sugar, cornflour, sesame oil and wine. Squeeze the soaked mushrooms; halve the large ones.
2. Heat two tablespoons of oil, fry the ginger, shallot and garlic until fragrant, then the mushrooms for a minute so they smell toasty.
3. Add the chicken skin-side down and let it colour; turn once and splash in the wine.
4. Add a cup of mushroom water and water, the rest of the oyster sauce, the dark soy and sugar; bring to the boil, lid on, low heat for twenty to twenty-five minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the mushrooms have drunk the sauce.
5. Lid off, boil to reduce, and thicken with a little cornflour slurry for the glossy restaurant finish. Spring onion, serve.

Take care

• Contains soy and wheat; oyster sauce contains mollusc (oyster). Chicken must be cooked through: no pink at the bone and the juices run clear.

The story

Braised chicken with shiitake is the pot that cannot go wrong: the mushroom soaking water is the stock, and the chicken's fat and the mushroom's aroma borrow from each other. In Hong Kong it is a weeknight dish and a New Year dish (with fish maw and black moss then), and one pot with its sauce over rice is dinner.

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Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.