Had a mad craving for soya sauce chicken noodles and made this. Methinks it would have been more flavourful if I had used dried shitake mushrooms, but my Asiann grocer was out of stock.
Serves 4
Ingredients
350 grams brown mushrooms, quartered, or 4 whole dried shitake mushrooms
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 slices ginger
6 garlic cloves, smashed
4 spring onions, sliced lengthways
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
¼ cup Chinese Shaoxing wine
¼ cup light soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
4 chicken thighs, without skin
Salt
400 grams Chinese egg noodles, cooked
Bok choy
2 teaspoon sesame oil
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled
If using dried mushrooms, soak them 1 cup hot water for 20 minutes or until softened. Drain and set aside. Strain and reserve the soaking liquid.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the ginger, garlic and spring onion and stir-fry for a minute.
Then add the star anise, cinnamon stick, mushrooms, mushroom soaking liquid, Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and 3 cups of water (4 cups if you are not using dried mushrooms). Bring to a simmer.
Add add the chicken and simmer for another 10 minutes. Turn the heat off, add the eggs, cover and allow the chicken to steep in the hot liquid for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, blanch the bok choy and cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package. Drain well and split into serving bowls.
Lift out the chicken, eggs and mushrooms, and slice them before arranging them in the bowls.
Taste the braising liquid and season to taste with salt.
Ladle over the bowls and serve with spring onions, sesame oil and optional chilli sauce, such as Lao Gan Ma crispy chilli oil.
Recipe adapted from Marion’s Kitchen.