I grew up in Chinatown: Thick shaved noodles, savory sausage and duck egg rice dumplings, clear fragrant broths and the dense, sweet smell of fresh tofu are some of my first food memories. When I need something to make me feel good, for whatever reason, I return to these flavors from my childhood. This recipe for poached chicken in ginger broth is a beautiful, simple use of one pot and the entire bird. As we enter into the colder, darker and more illness ridden winter season this recipe is a must have. It’s a clean and satisfying dish is fills me with an overwhelming sense of promise and wellbeing: A lovely healing dish for body and soul.
Here is what I used
The quantities of veg and stock are very flexible and depend mostly on the size of your pot
1 Large stock-pot with tightly fitting lid
1 small young chicken (3-4lbs)
1 large ginger root (about 2-3 cups roughly chopped)
1 bunch of scallions chopped
1 bunch of sweet basil
Enough chicken stock to fully submerge the chicken
4-5 bunches of baby bock-Choy
Chinese cabbage, Flowering Chives, Celery or Chinese Dried Mushrooms are other nice additions, although, in keeping with the purity of this dish I prefer to chose just one.
Here is what I did
Begin to heat your stock on medium heat
Remove the giblets from inside the chicken and add them to the pot
Put ½ of your chopped Scallion, Ginger and Basil into the cavity the chicken
Place the Chicken in the pot of stock and top with the rest of the Scallion, Ginger and Basil
The chicken should be fully submerged in stock with at least 2-3 inches to spare
Turn the heat up and bring the pot to a boil
Reduce the heat, maintaining a soft rolling boil for 20-25 min depending on the size of the bird
Put in your bunches of Bok-Choy, or veg of choice in whole. Keeping the bulb intact makes it easier to remove and serve
Turn off the flame and cover with a tight lid
Leave the pot covered for 1 hour
When you are ready to serve take the chicken and veg from the pot and discard most of the chickens skin. You hardly need to carve the bird because the meat will literally fall off the bone.
Serve family style with rice and broth.
This dish literally makes itself: The heat from the pot cooks the chicken to silky perfection and the veg are sweet and tender. Leaving the pot alone throughout the cooking process allows the broth to separate itself and the aromatics settle on the bottom.
What’s more to love about this dish is that it also makes its own leftovers: When you are finished picking most of the meat from the bird, return the carcass to the pot, which, will contain the leftover aromatics and chicken giblets. Cover the carcass with more water if needed and simmer throughout a rainy day.
Cool, remove fat and strain. This makes a robust “double broth”, a wonderful base for soup, ginger sauce or more poached chicken!
