Chicken with Shiitake Mushrooms & Chinese Sausage

I often think about the Chinese dishes my grandma makes since moving to Sydney. Whenever I do, I try to replicate them with her helping me over the phone since she now lives 5hrs flight away from me. As a first-generation Australian, my grandma is the source of all my chinese, cantonese style cooking.

Yes... My grandma and not my mother, my mummy is a rather hopeless cook. Not that its her fault, its just not her forte, she was much better at running her business than being in the kitchen.

Now that she has retired, she has started cooking at home. And I've been kept sufficiently entertained by the horror stories my bothers have been updating me on her cooking attempts. The latest had something to do with a steamed fish dish my mummy tried to produce. Somehow, the thickest part of the fish ended up being too undercooked, semi-sashimi-like apparently. Instead of continuing to steam the fish in the wok. My mummy decided to put it into the microwave and nuke it for about 3 mins. Steamed fish is supposed to be moist and delicate, according to my brothers it was rather rubbery and tough. Opps...:)

My grandma had her fair share of laughs over this last attempt as my mummy complained to me about the convoluted instructions my grandma gave her. "Pour some soy sauce over the fish.. but not too much".... "Steam until you can just poke a chopstick through".... "Use just enough ginger to remove the fishy smell"....

Ahh.. the same instructions I've been getting from my grandma over the phone. Its taken me a few trial & error attempts to decrypt my grandma's instructions. But now I have gotten used to it. This dish is another one of my grandma specials. Sometimes she would make this for breakfast, but mostly it was for dinner and always to be served with steamed rice.

Oh...The sauce that is produced from this dish... I could eat a bowl of rice just with the sauce alone..yum... :)

Chicken with Shiitake Mushrooms & Chinese Sausage

Original recipe from my grandma

Ingredients:

• 2 Chinese sausage (sliced diagonally)
• 2 Maryland Chicken Thighs (cut into 3cm wide pieces)
• 6 Chinese mushrooms (soaked, stalk removed, cut into half - water reserved)

Marinade:

• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
• 1 thumbsized piece of ginger (smashed)
• 2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon corn flour
• 1/4 cup water from the soaked mushrooms

Method:

1. Mix chicken, mushrooms and sausage with marinade ingredients and let stand for 30 minutes. You may need to add more of the reserved mushroom water if the marinade mixture is too thick.
2. Pour the marinated chicken, mushrooms and Chinese sausages in to a deep dish ready for steaming.
3. In a wok, bring some water to boil. Place a steamer rack on top and then place chicken dish in for steaming.
4. Steam for about 25 mins at medium high heat, or until the chicken is cooked through.
5. Remove from steamer and serve immediately.