Home-Style Braised Chicken (Huang Men Ji)

Ingredients

• 4 chicken legs
• 1 potato
• 8-10 shiitake mushrooms
• 1 each green and red bell peppers
• 10 cloves garlic
• 1 piece ginger
• as needed cooking wine
• 10g rock sugar
• as needed oyster sauce
• as needed light soy sauce
• as needed yellow soybean paste
• as needed Sichuan peppercorns
• 1 star anise
• 1 bay leaf

Instructions

1. Wash and cut chicken legs into pieces. Cut mushrooms into chunks, peel and dice potato, slice peppers, and slice ginger and garlic.
2. Place chicken in cold water with cooking wine and ginger slices. Bring to a boil to blanch.
3. Once foam rises, remove the chicken and drain. Set aside.
4. Add oil to the wok and add rock sugar.
5. Cook over low heat until the sugar slowly melts and turns a date-red color.
6. Add the chicken and stir-fry. Add ginger, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, and bay leaf. Add dried chilies if you like it spicy.
7. Add light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and 2 tbsp yellow soybean paste. Stir-fry.
8. Add mushrooms and potato dice. Add a pinch of salt and stir-fry evenly.
9. Transfer to a clay pot and add boiling water to cover the ingredients.
10. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes. Open and stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
11. When the potato is cooked, the chicken is done too. Add the green and red peppers just before serving.
12. Wow! Incredibly delicious — even the broth is too good to waste. Pour it over rice and you've got another meal!