You might already hear about
Taiwanese San Bei Ji (Three Cup Chicken) and today I want to introduce another Taiwanese
iconic dish – Ma You Ji, literally Sesame Oil chicken Stew. In Taiwan, this
dish is not only a winter warmer but also a common traditional postpartum or
post-surgery meal to help heal the body. The key ingredients of Ma You Ji are chicken,
ginger, sesame oil, and rice cooking wine; according to Taiwanese tradition,
sesame oil, ginger, and rice wine are recognized as ‘’hot food’’ and chicken as
‘’warm food’’ to bring heat and warm to the body. (This is not determined by
food’s temperature but by the effects after consumption.) Some people don’t even
add any water when cooking Ma You Ji, but the ratio of rice wine and water is certainly
adjustable to suit your preference; alcohol content will be evaporated during
cooking process anyway and transfer to sweet flavour. Ma You Ji can be simply served
as soup, and is also perfect to pair with rice or vermicelli like
what I cooked this time.
Ingredients
-250g
chicken wings.
-6-10
pieces thinly ginger slices.
-250 ml rice
wine
-250 ml water.
-A
handful goji berries, soaked in rice wine.
-A pinch
of salt to taste.
-3 tbsp sesame
oil.
Method
-Heat a pan over medium high
heat, add chicken wings (skin side down), stir fry for a while until fat
released.
-Add ginger slices, keep stirring
until fragrant and dried.
-Add rice wine, water, and
salt, bring it to boil and then simmer over medium low heat for 30 minutes,
cover with a lid.
-When
time is up, add 2 tbsp sesame oil and cook for a further 3 minutes.
-Turn
off the heat, add the remaining 1 tbsp sesame oil and goji berries.
Important
note to make Ma You Ji
Sesame
oil has low smoke point, frying it over high heat will give it burnt easily with
bitter taste, therefore I would suggest to add sesame oil at last steps so you
can still enjoy its aromatic nutty flavour.
