Chinese Chicken and Potato Stew
The full of flavour sauce is amazing! I love curried potatoes...these are a new favourite.
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp vegetable oil to fry
- 500g chicken drumsticks
- 4 white potatoes (about 700g), ideally Maris Piper, peeled and chopped into chunky pieces
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and smashed using your knife
- 30g root ginger finely sliced
- 2 large spring onions whites chopped into 5cm lengths and green tops thinly sliced
- 1 chicken stock cube or pot
- 500ml water
- ground white pepper to taste
- a dash of light soy sauce (optional)
For the sauce:
- 1.5 tsp light soy sauce
- 1.5 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 heaped tsp cornflour
To serve (optional):
- cooked basmati rice
Instructions
- Heat 2 tbsp of the vegetable oil in a large deep frying pan (with lid) or casserole over a high heat and brown the chicken drumsticks all over then set aside (1.5 minutes on each side). Mix all of the sauce ingredients together in a bowl.
- Pat the potato chunks dry with some kitchen paper. Heat 3 tbsp of the vegetable oil in the same frying pan or casserole and brown the potato chunks (1.5 minutes on each side). This stops them turning into mashed potato when they are cooked later, but also provides extra flavour. You might need to do this in batches and use more oil. Remove the potatoes and set aside.
- Heat the last tbsp of vegetable oil in the frying pan or casserole over a high heat. Fry the garlic, ginger and the whites of the spring onions until fragrant (about 3 minutes). Lower the heat to medium, add the browned drumsticks to the pot followed by the sauce. Coat the drumsticks thoroughly and allow the sauce to reduce for about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Crumble in the stock cube (or stir in the stock pot) and add the fried potatoes to the pan. Add about 500ml of water so it just covers the meat and potatoes (you may need more water depending on the size of your pan). Put the lid on and simmer for 15 minutes. Do not be tempted to add too much water, otherwise the potato will fall apart and become mash. Stir occasionally to check the potato is not burning and sticking to the pot.
- Check the potatoes are ready - they may need another 10 to 15 minutes to soften. Once the potatoes are cooked, season to taste with salt and white pepper, but also add a dash of light soy sauce, if you like, to give the dish a further umami taste.
- Garnish with chopped spring onion greens. If enjoying as a main dish for dinner, serve with basmati rice to soak up the sauce, if you like.