Soy Sauce Chicken Wings with Shiitake Mushrooms (冬菇豉油雞翼, Dung1 Gu1 Si6 Jau4 Gai1 Jik6)

Making this tasty dish is a two-step process, and takes a little more time and work to make (but it’s worth doing). The chicken wings are first poached in a soy sauce solution before being stir fried with the other ingredients. Use the Soy Sauce Chicken (豉油鷄, Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹) or Soy Sauce Chicken Gizzards (豉油鸡胗, Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹ San²) recipes to poach the chicken wings at least one day before stir frying the completed dish. Browning the already soy sauce poached chicken wings in a wok gives the wings an added flavor over just the poached. The poaching liquid is also used in the completed dish’s sauce to further reinforce the flavor.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

3 lb.	750 g.	Chicken wings (鷄翼, gai1 jik6), separated into pieces and poached using the Soy Sauce Chicken (豉油鷄, Si6 Jau4 Gai1) or Soy Sauce Chicken Gizzards (豉油鸡胗, Si6 Jau4 Gai1 San2) recipes
1	1	Large fuzzy melon (節瓜, zit3 gwaa1), quartered lengthwise and cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces
3 sticks	3 sticks	One 6 oz. (170 g.) package dried bean curd sticks (腐竹, fu6 zuk1), rehydrated and cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces
12	12	Dried Shiitake mushrooms (冬菇, dung1 gu1), rehydrated and cut into halves
3 stalks	3 stalks	Green onions (葱, cung1), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
		Oil for cooking

 

Sauce Ingredients

½ cup	125 ml.	Chicken wing soy sauce poaching liquid
2-4 Tbs.	30-60 ml.	Shiitake mushroom rehydration liquid
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
½ Tbs.	7.5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Water

 

Equipment

		Garlic press
4 qt.	3.8 L.	Covered bowl
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

 

Preparation Instructions (One Day Before)

1. Wash and clean the chicken wings before cutting the wings into its constituent parts. Use the Soy Sauce Chicken (豉油鷄, Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹) or Soy Sauce Chicken Gizzards (豉油鸡胗, Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹ San²) recipes to poach the chicken wings. Place the cooked chicken wings into a covered bowl and refrigerate overnight. Also reserve some of the poaching liquid in another covered bowl for use in the sauce and refrigerate overnight.
2. Pour boiling water over the dried Shiitake mushrooms in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the mushrooms overnight.
3. Pour boiling water over the dried bean curd sticks in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the bean curd overnight.

Preparation Instructions (Cooking Day)

1. Take the chicken wings and reserved poaching liquid out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking.
2. Remove the Shiitake mushrooms from the rehydration liquid, remove the stems, and cut them into halves. Reserve the rehydration liquid for later use in the cooking process.
3. Remove the bean curd sticks from the rehydration liquid and cut them into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces. Discard the rehydration liquid.
4. Scrape off the “fuzz” from the fuzzy melon by holding the melon in one hand and scraping a cleaver or knife in reverse over the skin of the fuzzy melon under running water. This means putting the cleaver at the half way point of the melon with the blade of the cleaver pointing towards you and while holding the cleaver almost parallel to the surface of the fuzzy melon, moving the cleaver away from you, scraping the skin of the fuzz. Reverse the fuzzy melon and repeat the procedure, scraping the fuzz off the other half. Cut the fuzzy melon into quarters lengthwise and then cut each melon quarter into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces.
5. Crush the ginger and garlic in a garlic press and put into a small bowl.
6. Wash and cut the green onions into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal.
7. Prepare and mix the sauce in a small bowl: take the chicken wing soy sauce poaching liquid and mix it in a small bowl with the 2 Tbs. (30 ml.) of the Shiitake mushroom rehydration liquid. Taste for the saltiness of the liquid and adjust the amount of liquid used in the sauce - if the liquid is too salty (add more mushroom rehydration liquid) or not salty enough (unlikely; use more gizzard poaching liquid). Once you’re satisfied with the saltiness of the sauce, add the hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil.
8. In another small bowl, prepare the corn starch slurry by mixing the corn starch and water together.

Cooking Instructions

1. Heat a wok or pan over high heat before adding oil. Add the chicken wing pieces to the wok in a single layer on the bottom and brown the outside. You may have to cook the chicken in batches, so be sure to reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil. Since the chicken wings are already cooked, browning them should go quickly when using a hot wok. Transfer the chicken to a bowl.
2. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the Shiitake mushrooms. Stir fry the mushrooms and then transfer them to the bowl with the chicken.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the bean curd sticks. Stir fry the bean curd and then transfer them to the bowl with the chicken.
4. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the fuzzy melon. Stir fry the fuzzy melon to brown them. Add the bowl with the ginger and garlic mixture, and then some oil to the mixture. Quickly stir fry all the ingredients until the ginger and garlic mixture becomes fragrant. Add the green onions and the contents of the bowl with the chicken back into the wok, and stir fry all the ingredients together.
5. Add the sauce ingredients to the wok and stir fry the ingredients together. If more sauce is desired, add some of the mushroom rehydration liquid to the wok. Add the corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce and mix all the ingredients together. Put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish and serve with steamed rice.