Chicken Breast. It is my least favourite part of the bird.
Sold separately, chicken breast is the most expensive cut – it’s a lot of meat; a lean cut that’s prized for many dishes, for healthy eating and those counting calories. Whenever I cook chicken breast it is only for specific dishes – Chicken Salad, Stripped-Chicken Chow Mein, or cubed in Chicken Noodle Soup. However, the other day, after I drooled at photos online of the many dishes prepared for Chinese New Year, I decided to cook some chicken breasts I had in the style of Cantonese Poached Chicken and Hainanese Chicken. Both dishes are similar but served with different sides and sauces. The main commonality is that the chicken is poached. I am so glad to have found another way to cook chicken breast.
This dish is simple. It is easy to make. It is delicious. And yeah, healthy too.
Poaching is a cooking technique where food, in this case, meat is submerged in liquid and cooked at a low temperature. The meat is cooked gently with minimal movement on the surface of the water. Cooking the chicken breasts this way helps keep the meat moist, tender, with a pleasing texture and mouth-chew. Very satisfying.
The accompaniment for the dish is what completes it – the ginger-
scallion sauce. This little sauce/condiment I believe is a must-have in any kitchen (I’ve written to you about it before). It can elevate many dishes or meals, including sandwiches and salads. The two main ingredients are ginger and scallions (green onions/shallots). A little bit of grated garlic and finely minced or sliced hot peppers to taste, round things out, and the best part, is that there is no cooking involved in making this sauce! You simply pour smoking hot oil over all the sliced-chopped ingredients and stir well. As the sauce sits it gets even better and the oil is infused with all the aromatics. So, so very good is ginger-scallion sauce. I keep a bottle of this sauce in the refrigerator all the time.
To eat this dish of Poached Chicken with Ginger-Scallion Sauce, you can dip pieces of the chicken into the sauce and eat it as is. But what I did was spoon the sauce over the chicken and then toss well to coat and mix as one would do with a salad. The dish can be eaten warm, at room temperature, or cold straight out of the refrigerator. I have had it all three ways. Warm and at room temperature, eat it as is or with plain white rice or buttered noodles. Cold, eat as is or on top of a green salad. But if you are looking for a treat, sandwich the chicken between slices of bread dabbed with a little mayonnaise with slicks of hot pepper sauce. It is a meal in itself. If you like, add some crunchy lettuce to the sandwich.
Here’s how to poach the chicken and make the accompanying sauce. For this recipe, I used bone-in chicken breasts, but you can use legs, thighs or leg quarters. The cooking time will be different though: add 5 to 8 minutes to the cooking and resting time for the legs/thighs/quarters. But the cooling down time remains the same – 5 minutes.
INGREDIENTS
For poached chicken
• 8 – 10 cups tap water
• 6 – 8 slices fresh ginger
• 4 – 6 whole green onions/scallions (heads cleaned), tied together
• 2 whole chicken breasts, bone in, skin on, halved, rinsed and pat dry
• Large bowl with ice water with ice cubes
For ginger-scallion sauce
• 2 cups thinly sliced scallions, white/purple and green parts
• Heaped ¼ cup very finely minced fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon grated garlic or very finely minced
• Minced or sliced hot peppers to taste
• 2 teaspoons fine table salt or to taste
• ½ teaspoon white vinegar (use rice wine vinegar if you have)
• A pinch of sugar
• 1 ½ cups vegetable or Canola oil
DIRECTIONS
For poached chicken
1. Add water to a large pot along with ginger and scallions, cover and bring to a boil over high heat.
2. Lower the chicken breasts into the boiling water and bring the pot back to a boil, as soon as the pot comes to a boil, drop the heat to low or simmer, cover and cook for 12 – 15 minutes (test for doneness by piercing the thickest part of the chicken, the juices should run clear). The water should only be moving gently without bubbles or boiling.
3. Shut off the heat after the 12 – 15 minutes and let the meat remain in the pot, covered, for another 12 – 15 minutes. Drain the cooking liquid and reserve to use as stock.
4. Remove the meat from the pot and transfer to ice water for 5 minutes to stop the cooking process. After 5 minutes, remove from the ice water and pat dry. Strip the meat into thick pieces discarding the skin and bones. Place in a serving dish. If you have, use food safe gloves when handling the cooked chicken. Or use clean hands.
For ginger-scallion sauce
1. While the chicken is cooking, add all the ingredients except the oil into a heatproof bowl and stir well to mix.
2. Heat the oil until smoking hot and then pour over the ingredients in the bowl. Stir well to mix and set aside.
To assemble/serve
1. Spoon generous helpings of the ginger-scallion sauce over the chicken and serve with extra sauce on the side. OR, after spooning the sauce over the chicken, toss well to coat and mix.
Enjoy.
Cynthia
cynthia@tasteslikehome.org
