Steamed Chinese chicken with ginger and spring onion, tender and juicy
The secret to this chicken isn't just in steaming it, but in what happens afterward. Chinese-style steamed chicken with ginger is tender and juicy, fragrant with spring onions, ginger, and jujubes. While it steams, we prepare a marinade of hot oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and a touch of chili.
Ingredients · Servings 2
- 2 chicken thighs
- 4 dried jujubes (Chinese datiles, jujubes)
- 2 spring onions (green part only)
- 25g of fresh ginger
- 2 spring onions (only the chopped green part)
- 25g of ginger (fresh and chopped)
- 3 tablespoons of neutral oil (sunflower, grapeseed or peanut)
- 1 teaspoon of chili flakes (dried chili or gochugaru)
- 1 teaspoon of soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil (optional)
- Shall
- Pepper
- 120g of jasmine or basmati rice
Method · 30 min
- Bring water to a boil in a large, deep pan. Place a rack inside to keep the plate above the water; the water should not touch the plate. Place a heatproof, deep plate on top of the rack, and then place a small bowl upside down in the center.
- We distributed the chicken thighs, jujubes, the green part of the spring onions, and the ginger cut into large pieces around the bowl.
- Cover the pan and steam the chicken over medium heat until cooked through. The time will depend on the size of the thighs; as a guide, allow about 25-30 minutes. If you have a kitchen thermometer, check that the thickest part reaches at least 74°C (165°F).
- While the chicken is cooking, we prepare the rice and start the sauce. We finely chop the ginger and the reserved green parts of the spring onions and place them in a heatproof bowl.
- Heat the neutral oil in a small pan until very hot. Carefully pour it over the ginger and spring onion: they should sizzle when they hit the oil. Mix.
- Add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, pepper, chili flakes, and, if using, sesame oil. Mix well and taste before adding salt, as soy sauce and oyster sauce are already salty.
- Once the chicken is cooked, let it cool slightly so you can handle it. Remove the skin and bones and shred the meat into large pieces.
- We remove the ginger pieces, spring onions, and jujubes from the plate. We carefully lift the inverted bowl and retrieve the concentrated cooking juices that have collected underneath.
- We add that juice to the ginger and spring onion sauce. We add the shredded chicken and mix so that the meat is well coated.
- We serve the chicken with freshly cooked rice and pour a generous amount of sauce over it. And that's it!
