Coq Au Vin: The Easy (Chinese) Way

After a coq au vin disaster sometime ago, I decided to try it out again using my knowledge of chinese cooking than to stick to the recipe given in a certain French cookbook!







Ingredients

1.1kg chicken seasoned overnight with salt, pepper and sprinkle with corn flour before cooking

150- 200ml of any red wine ( I know almost ziltch about wine so it didn't matter to me)

3 slices of back bacon

1 can of button mushrooms

50g of tomato paste

8 shallots (sliced)

2 garlic clove (sliced)

1 sprig of thyme and 1 bay leaf

butter, sea salt and sugar



Steps

1. Browned shallots and garlic in butter.

2. Stir in bacon followed by chicken. Stir well to make sure the meat does not stick.

3. Once the chicken release some liquid, add in tomato paste, sugar and red wine.  Transfer everything out of the wok to simmer in a corningware. Throw in thyme and bay leaf. 

4. Add some water to the wok and scrap out the remainders.  Pour the water into the corningware.  Simmer for 15mins or till chicken turn tender. Add button mushrooms. Simmer for another 5mins.  Serve! Eat with crusty bread!





Easy peasy.  I failed the last time because 1) I added some flour to thicken the liquid at step 3 which gave the coq au vin a starchy texture.  This time round I just tenderise the meat with some corn flour.  2) I used fresh white button mushroom which released too much liquid. This time round I subsituted with canned button mushrooms.



I am no cook but the coq au vin turned out delish.  The taste reminded me of the Hakka's ??? which uses red glutinous wine lees  This perhaps due to the chinese twist I imposed on this classic french dish.