A family favourite recipe for a Cantonese-style stew. Chestnuts bring sweetness to balance the savoury flavours, and the sauce is divine for spooning over white rice.

Time: 3/5
Not bad, considering the number of meals you get out of it.

Effort: 4/5
A bit more knife work and marination than my typical recipes.

A Staged Procedure

Here’s yet another of my treasured Cantonese family recipes, on the same level as the Chicken Wing and Potato Stew. It’s one of those weeknight staples that remind me of carefree days at school, goofing around with friends, and coming home to a hearty meal that warms both body and soul.

You might not have heard of chestnuts in a stew, but they add a wonderful sweetness to balance the rich savouriness of the shiitake mushrooms. They also give off some starch, which results in a thick glossy sauce that turns plain white rice into a delicious experience.

And because you can cook everything in a huge wok or pot, this recipe also scales up very well for meal prep. The only caveat is that the chicken tastes much better if you marinate it first, which means a bit more work to cook than my typical low-effort, set-and-forget sort of oven roasted chicken thighs and rice that serve as my nutritional workhorses.

Nothing a bit of planning can’t solve, though. Nobody is holding a gun to your head demanding you make everything in one go. I find that meal prep is much easier if you spread your groceries, prep, and cooking across several days.

I get my chicken frozen, so they take time to defrost anyway. The thighs go into the fridge to defrost on grocery day. The next day I cut them into chunks and marinade them, as well as rehydrating the shiitake mushrooms. Then, by day three, everything is set and ready to go.

I don’t need to worry about coming home from work with a long list of things to do before dinner is put on the table, all I need to do is pull things out of the fridge and get them in the wok. Reducing friction is the way to go when it comes to establishing effective habits.

Posts since the last recipe that was actually served with rice: 0

Dramatis Personae

Served 6.

• 1000g boneless skin on chicken thighs

My favourite type of meal prep protein. Bones may add flavour, but they also increase cooking time and take up space in the wok that could have gone to cooking more edible meat.

I like to cube them up into smaller pieces, so there’s more surface area to take up the flavours of the marinade. This is best done when the thighs are still a bit frozen, or after spending about 12 hours defrosting in the fridge.

• 0.5 cups dried shiitake mushrooms

Snap off the stems (but keep them for soup), wash the caps well to rinse off the dirt, then soak overnight in plenty of fresh water. Keep the shiitake water, it will form the basis of the braising liquid later.

• 150g chestnuts

You can roast and peel your own, but I find it much easier to just buy pre-roasted and pre-peeled chestnuts from the shop. I can just grab these at the store where I live, but you may need to go digging around at a big box store or an Asian grocery store if you live in the Western world.

For the marinade/sauce

• 4 tbsp oyster sauce
• 4 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp corn starch

Dark soy for colour, light soy for flavour. Oyster sauce adds even more depth of flavour, and Shaoxing wine is the missing link between your home cooking and Chinese food from a restaurant.

The corn starch makes the marinade a bit like a batter and helps brown the chicken pieces, and it also helps thicken the marinade when I turn it into a sauce later.

Aromatics

• Few slices of ginger
• Few cloves of garlic
• Few sprigs of scallions
• A few shallots

I don’t bother peeling my ginger if I’m not eating the pieces, although I do rinse them well. The garlic and shallots just get sliced into thin pieces. Normally I would separate the scallion whites to use as an aromatic, but the ones I’m growing myself aren’t quite that mature yet. So all I have are greens, which still make a great garnish.

• 1200g Napa cabbage

Always eat your veggies! Napa cabbage is one of the most meal prep friendly vegetables, since it is so easy to roughly chop them up and clean the leaves. They also keep for a week in the fridge and make great soup, so don’t be afraid to buy some extra.

Executive summary

1. Cut chicken into 2 inch cubes, and toss in marinade. Refrigerate overnight.
2. De-stem and rinse dried shiitake mushrooms. Rehydrate in fresh water, in the fridge overnight.
3. On the day of cooking, stir fry aromatics in a large wok until aromatic.
4. Add chicken pieces into the wok, and stir fry until lightly browned.
5. Add shiitake water, mushrooms and chestnuts.
6. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, covered.
7. Serve hot, with rice.

Play by Play

Last things first. I like to cut the meat when it’s still half frozen, it doesn’t slip everywhere and the grease doesn’t smear. Mix it well with the marinade and leave it in the fridge overnight.

Shiitake has been rehydrated, chicken has been marinated, and I’m ready for action.

I don’t want to dirty another pan, and I want to keep the vegetables tasting light and sweet. So I’m cooking the Napa cabbage in the wok before the chicken goes in. Always wash your veggies!

That’s more than a kilogram of vegetables, it will take plenty of time to cook. Which gives me an opportunity to prepare the aromatics.

Napa cabbage done, I will reserve this and start working on the actual chicken and chestnut stew.

The pan is basically clean, once the vegetables are out. Quick wipe, oil in, ginger in. The chicken and other aromatics can go in when you can smell the ginger.

Hang on to the shiitake water and the marinade, they’re both liquid gold! Rinse the bowl out with shiitake water and pour it into the wok. There, that’s the sauce, and it makes the dishes easier too. Kitchen synergy at its best.

Now all I have to do is cover and let it simmer until the flavours come together.

Dinner is served! Check out how glossy and luscious the sauce is. That will percolate down through into the rice, and it’s easily the best part of the meal.

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