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Friday, March 9, 2012

Steamed chicken with berries and mushroom

This dish is incredibly healthy, and really good! You get the savoury chicken, complimented by the sweet berries that I am sure you might have never tasted before. 
Wolf berries and Chinese dates come dry, but will hydrate and absorb lots of flavour while steaming. 
You will need to find a local asian market to find these berries (cheapest!), or a health food store ($$). 
                                  http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-34153285/stock-photo-dried-            Dangshen in Yangshuo Market
                                  red-dates-wolf-berries-goji-berries-hong-zao-guo-qi-zi.html
                                      Left to right: dates, wolf berries

Wolf berries: aka goji berries Apparently very good for correcting bad vision, and also good for kidneys and liver. 
Chinese red dates: aka jujubes helps the spleen, stomach and insomnia. 
Dangshen: "the poor man's ginseng" A herb resembling ginseng, but not as expensive and strong. It increases energy, immunity and protects against heart disease. 

Ingredients

1 large chicken breast
2 dried Chinese mushrooms, sliced (soaked in hot water for 15 minutes) - We used shitake
2 red chinese dates
1 tsp red wolf berries 
1 tbsp of 2cm slices dangshen
1 tbsp minced white onion
1/2 tsp salt
pinch pepper
1 tsp peanut oil (or any cooking)
1 tsp rice wine
garnish: sesame oil

Mix up ingredients on a plate and steam for 15 minutes. Drizzle with sesame oil and serve! 
You have 3 at home steaming options: In a bamboo steamer, on a plate placed inside a work (image bellow), or in tin foil inside a wok if you wanted to prepare larger quantities. 


If you have no local asian store: Replace dangshen with 1 TBSP minced ginger, and find gogi berries at your health food store, or use your favourite dried fruit. 


Before being cooked
Bamboo steaming option
If you do not have bamboo steamers, this is another alternative to steaming. 

Yangshuo
China


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