| Recipe: Ginger Chicken with Black Wood Ear Mushrooms (Shanghai) |
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 姜鸡炒黑木耳 - jiang ji chao hei mu er
When we lived in Taipei, my husband used to home back from the market with glee over how little he paid for boneless skinless chicken breast. This is, of course, because no self-respecting Chinese person who knows what's good to eat will buy anything other than dark meat (sadly, he has since learned the error of his ways so I now have to fight for the chicken legs). There are a few exceptions to this rule, however, and Ginger Chicken, a southern dish that is judged by the delicateness of its flavor as much as it is for that of its color (hence its use of salt instead of soy sauce) achieves its pale hue by featuring the shunned chicken breast. The traditional recipe uses only chicken, but this recipe features a classic pairing with the crunchy and whorled black wood ear (sometime called black cloud) mushroom/fungus which the Chinese prize for its health and medicinal benefits.
Ingredients
400 gram boneless, skinless chicken
breast/ji xiong
100 gram black wood ear mushrooms/hei mu er (after hydrated and trimmed, approx 25-30 grams dried depending on the amount of stems)
20 gram ginger
Chinese cooking wine
light colored rice vinegar
salt
cornstarch
Method Note: For classic Ginger Chicken, simply omit the wood ear mushrooms. Soak the dried black wood ear mushrooms in warm water for an hour, or cool water as long as overnight. Butterfly the chicken breast(s) by slicing each piece in half through the entire breast, so you end up with two pieces that are half as thick. To do this, put your palm flat on the chicken breast and press down firmly as you hold your knife parallel to the cutting board and then gently cut through the breast. Then, cutting against the grain of the meat (most likely at or close to cutting across the short side of the breast), slice the chicken thinly, no more than 1/8 inch thick (approximately the thickness of a US quarter). Tip: The meat will be easier to slice thinly if you put it in the freezer for 10 minutes first. Marinate the sliced chicken in a tablespoon or two of cooking wine; mix liquid in thoroughly, then add one teaspoon of cornstarch and mix well. Peel, thinly slice and then chop the ginger into a very thin, delicate julienne. The key to this dish is how fine you can make the julienne, which you want to wilt and cling to the chicken and yet remain restrained in flavor. Drain the wood ear mushrooms, trim off any tough stems/parts and cut into approximately 1 cm wide slices (about the width of the chicken slices).   Heat oil in wok. Add chicken and stir fry until the meat starts to separate, then add julienned ginger and toss so the ginger separates and distributes throughout the chicken. Season very lightly with salt. When nearly cooked through, add the wood ear mushrooms. Toss together and season lightly with rice vinegar (try ½ to 1 tablespoon) and a pinch of salt. Toss, taste and adjust seasoning.
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