Sesame Oil Chicken (麻油鸡)

Posted by Vivian in Chicken, Chinese

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It has been a really busy month both at home and office and I am making use of that as an excuse for taking so long (like almost 4 weeks) to post this up.

Well at least that is just one of the "reasons".  Partly also because I wasn't quite motivated to keep this recipe.  There is nothing wrong with this dish, I adore it because it is so flavourful and sesame oil itself is a good enough reason to make me want to eat it over and over again.  I go crazy over sesame oil to the extent that I can have a bowl of porridge covered with sesame oil resembling an oil slick or my chee cheong fun overdosed with sesame oil, and people around can feel so grossed out just by the sight of it.

Unfortunately, I have my suspicion that heating sesame oil over fire gives Elaina a bad cough and which was what happened on that fateful day when I made this.  She couldn't stop coughing for a few hours and it went on until after the house was thoroughly aired.  She had a similar episode once in an eatery not too long ago and we couldn't quite figure out the reason.  My guess now is that sesame oil is the suspect here.  She is fine if the sesame oil is added as an ingredient but not when used in place of cooking oil.

I reckon it will be a while before I attempt this again.  Probably when Elaina is slightly older and her airway is less sensitive, or when she becomes a mother and I need to make this as a confinement food for her LOL.

This recipe originated from Rasa Malaysia, and reproducing it here for easy reference.  The only tweak I made was to add some cornstarch towards the end to thicken the sauce slightly.  As usual, I like my dish to be more saucy than normal.


Ingredients:

• 3 chicken drumsticks (chop into 3-4 pieces each, bone-in)
• 2-3 inches knob of ginger (peeled and cut into thin strips)
• 1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine or Chinese rice wine
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 dashes white pepper powder

Preparation:

• Heat up a wok over high heat and add the sesame oil.
• When a swirl of smoke appears from the wok and the oil is fully heated, add the ginger strips and stir fry until light brown or aromatic.
• Add chicken to the wok and stir fry for about 10-15 seconds before adding the soy sauce, oyster sauce, wine, and white pepper powder.
• Continue to stir-fry until the chicken is 70% cooked. Add water and do a few quick stirs. 
• Cover the wok with the lid and turn the heat to medium to low heat and let the chicken cook for a few minutes or until the sauce thickens and the meat becomes tender.