Typically when i buy whole chicken, i will remove the breast, thighs and drumsticks from the chicken. i will then pack them into 5 packs - 2 packs of half breasts, 2 packs of 1 thigh and 1 drums, 1 pack of chicken carcass.
Needless to say, the carcass is for chicken stock making. The smaller pack of chicken is to save me time defrosting when i have to cook them last minute, i dun have patience when it comes to thawing frozen meat.
When i have the time, i will even debone the thigh and drums, cut the breasts and marinate the chicken with pepper and soya sauce before putting them into bags for freezing. This saves me even more time when i use the chicken to cook porridge, stir fry etc.
Now, back to my braised chicken, the reason why i have half chicken with bones attached is because its from my mum. She visited me after my operation and bought me chicken which is already halved and frozen.
So well, i chopped the chicken into pieces, found chillis in my fridge (again i dont buy chilli, this is from my mother in law). Some left over cherry tomatoes from xmas gathering salad also goes in!
What do you need?- Half a chicken cut into small pieces
- 5 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 5-10 shallots, quartered
- 1 baby carrot
- 1 chilli - deseeded and cut into big pieces
- 1 thumb size piece of ginger
- oyster sauce
- pinch of sugar
- sesame seed oil and pepper
How to do it?Heat work and fry ginger, chilli and shallots until fragrant.
Then add chicken and carrot. Fry chicken until brown before adding water. Season with oyster sauce, sugar, pepper. Turn heat to low and simmer for 30 mins until a thick sauce is formed and meat falls off the bone easily.
Drizzle with sesame seed oil and serve with rice.
The sweetness of the carrot and chicken juices, with a hint of sourness from the tomato and heat from the ginger and chilli, its heavenly.
