Recipe 10: Cantonese Shiyau Chicken

My jiaozi recipe post was not meant to imply that Cantonese food isn’t Chinese food, only that it isn’t the only Chinese food, and that Americanized Cantonese food only somewhat resembles true Cantonese food. Americans eat more meat, suo yi (therefore), there is more meat in it. Americans eat richer and sweeter food, suo yi, the food is made accordingly. So when I say I want to tackle Chinese food, I mean all styles–Yue (Cantonese), Hui (Anhui), Min (Fujian), Xiang (Hunan), Su (Huaiyang Cuisine), Lu (Shandong), Chuan (Sichuan), and Zhe (Zhejiang). Once I get more stuff on here, I suppose I should organize it by style of cooking.

Last week’s experiment was Cantonese Shiyau Chicken. This is the kind of recipe I like: mixing stuff and letting it simmer until finished. So easy. As always, I made adjustments for my taste.

I really liked the way this turned out. It wasn’t too sweet, and the sauce wasn’t too thick. The sesame seeds (which I added) were a nice touch. And I think the leftover sauce would’ve been great on fried eggs had it survived the night!

As I mentioned, it was just a matter of making the sauce and letting it boil…

A sea of scallions

Then I added the chicken and sesame seeds and simmered until awesome…

Chicken of the sea?

Finally, I took out the chicken, added corn flour to thicken the sauce, then poured it over the chicken.

Pouring tasty onto delicious.

The Recipe! (Makes 8 Servings)

What you need:

2 pounds of chicken, cut into strips
1/2-3/4 cup light soy sauce
6-8 scallions, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons of honey
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1.5 cups of water, plus 5 tablespoons
6 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons cornflour

What to do:

Bring everything but cornflour, chicken, and extra water to a boil.
Add the chicken and simmer for 30-40 minutes.
Remove the chicken.
Add the cornflour and 5 tablespoons of water to the sauce and bring to another boil to help thicken.
Pour the sauce over the chicken.
Serve and enjoy!