Chicken With Red Glutinous Rice Wine Lees (Hong Zao Ji - ???)

Hong Zao Ji (???) is one of the common dishes that most confinement lady would cook for the new mum to consume during the first 30 days after childbirth. Usually Old Ginger, Wine and Black Vinegar are the main ingredients used during confinement period. But nowadays you can easily purchase or cook similar confinement dishes with access of those ingredients.

A few days back, I happen to view on "Noob Cook" site that she had whipped up this lovely Hong Zao Ji dish using her homemade wine lees, which makes me drooling over the luxury gravy. And since I have a bottled of this Red Glutinous Rice Lees in the fridge, I decided to try out her recipe and it turns out wonder.

Ginger is to enhance the fragrance of this dish as well it posses warm and healthy properties which can ?expel winds? in the body. Whereas wine is helpful in warming and nourishing the body, which promotes blood circulation.

(Recipe adapted from Noobcook, HERE)

Ingredients: (serves 2)½ Chicken, chopped to smaller pieces

* 250ml Glutinous Rice Wine (???)

1½ Tablespoon Red Glutinous Wine Lees (??)

4 Slices Ginger, cut to thin strips

2 Slices Ginger

I Packet of Shimeiji Mushroom

2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

½ Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce

¼ Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce

2 Small Cubes Rock Sugar (about 3 - 5g)

Garnish:1 Tablespoon of Hua Diao Jiu (??? )

Splash of Sesame Oil

Some Coriander

* I replace Red Glutinous Rice Wine with normal glutinous rice wine since I have some leftover in the fridge.

1. Heat up a wok or claypot with 2 tablespoons of sesame oil. Add ginger strips and fry them until crisp and set aside the ginger strips for garnishing.

2. Using the remaining sesame oil in the wok, add ginger slices, chicken pieces and stir-fry until the chicken is cooked on the surface.

3. Add in glutinous wine, wine less, mushrooms, light and dark soy sauce. Stir well. Cover with lid and let it simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes.

4. Using spatula to flip the chicken pieces over so that they can absorb the sauce evenly.

5. Next add rock sugar for sweetness as well as enhance a beautiful glazed finish. Simmer with lid closed for another 5 - 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.

6. Turn off heat, drizzle one tablespoons of Hua Diao Jiu and splash of sesame oil for extra fragrance and taste.

7. Garnish with fried ginger, coriander and serve with steamed white rice.

Chicken With Red Glutinous Rice Wine Lees (Hong Zao Ji - ???)

Although there are many different way of methods in preparing this confinement dish but like what "Noob Cook" has shared the key factors still lies on that good quality of wine leer which makes a great different in taste for this dish. But if you can?t get hold these homemade red glutinous wine lees, you can easily purchase those bottled wine lees in any leading supermarkets or Asian grocery stalls. You can take a look at another simple recipe of mine with a photo of the bottled wine lees shown, HERE.

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