Recipe – Chicken in Red Glutinous Rice Wine (Hong Zao Ji)

Happy Tuesday! Time passes really fast and we are now in April. I am so looking forward to my Chiang Mai trip in 2 weeks’ time and my Europe trip next month.

I had an exciting Monday with good and bad news. Good news include receiving an opportunity call and a confirmation for a super good giveaway for the blog (which will happen this week!). I have also received a wedding invite from a close colleague and a friend just told me she bought a property. I am truly happy for all my friends!

As for the bad news, not exactly bad lah, and that is the boyf finally went to see a specialist yesterday regarding his continuous nose bleed condition. He used to have nose bleed once a month but lately, he sometimes suffers the condition twice a day! It just got me very worried and finally he decided to seek help after dilly dally for many months. The doctor did an endoscopy, saw a wound and a swell in the nose. Then he did a biopsy to check if the swell is cancerous. Results will be out next week and I really hope he is gonna be alright!

On a lighter note, I signed up for Hot Yoga classes in Clarke Quay over the weekend. The gym which I frequent is having an overcrowding issue which makes me very pissed off. I wanted to do BodyCombat class last Saturday and reached the gym 20 mins earlier for registration. Guess what, when I entered the gym, the queue for registration was super long and by the time it reached my turn, there were no more slots. So I went to take a shower, came out and waited for 15 mins to use a hairdryer. This is it. Immediately I called up the Hot Yoga centre which I have been wanting to try, went for their trial the following day and signed up for classes there. Love Hot Yoga very much because it feels good to see my sweat dripping onto the yoga mat and I felt very refreshed after the class!

Ok enough of my ramblings. I hope all of you had a good Easter break. I spent my Good Friday preparing lunch for the family. After my Malaysia Food Trail last month, I fell in love with the Red Glutinous Rice Wine at Restoran Lima Ratus and decided to cook Chicken in Red Glutinous Rice Wine (Hong Zao Ji) at home! Adapted the recipe from noobcook, I bought my red glutinous wine lees and red glutinous rice wine from NTUC supermarket. I know they are probably not as good as the ones from Malaysia, but I think this is good enough for me.

Some people are better in baking while some are better in cooking. I think I am more talented when it comes to cooking than baking. Probably because I am not exactly a fan of desserts, so when it comes to baking, I am not as excited. But when I want to cook a meal, I will spend my time researching for the dish, and sort of have the “sense” to it. It is hard to explain the “sense”, but I will kind of know when to put what seasonings and how much to put. If you get what I mean?

So for this Chicken in Red Glutinous Rice Wine, I first marinade my chicken with red glutinous wine lees and Red Glutinous Rice Wine for about an hour. Then I stir fry and simmer it for a while. The result? Nice thick aroma from the red glutinous rice wine and the family loves it! And of course, this is a popular confinement dish and it is very nourishing for ladies. I think I can be a confinement lady already, since I love to cook confinement dishes such as pig trotter with vinegar and Hong Zao Ji!

Chicken in Red Glutinous Rice Wine

Ingredients (serves 2-4)
– 500g medium to chicken thigh, chopped in pieces
– 3 slices ginger
– 2 tbsp sesame oil

Marinade
– 2 tbsp red glutinous wine lees
– 1 tbsp red glutinous wine
– 3 slices ginger
– 1 tsp sesame oil
– 1/2 tsp light soy sauce

Seasoning
– 200ml red glutinuous wine (红槽酒)
– 1 tbsp red glutinous wine lees (红槽)
– some sugar

Garnishing (optional)
– 2 tbsp Hua Diao Jiu
– coriander

Method:
1. In a bowl, marinade chicken with the marinade ingredients for 1 hour.
2. In a wok, pour in sesame oil. Then add ginger and stir fry till fragrant.
3. Add chicken pieces. Stir fry until the chicken is cooked on the surface.
4. Add in the seasonings and mix until the chicken is evenly coated.
5. Cover with a lid and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. If you can, flip the chicken pieces halfway through the cooking time for more even cooking.
6. If you prefer a richer wine aroma, drizzle Hua Diao Jiu onto the dish upon serving. Garnish with coriander. Enjoy with warm white rice.