Braised Chicken with Frozen Tofu and Shiitake Mushrooms

Have you tried the frozen tofu before?  If not, give it a try because I strongly recommended it!  It works best with extra firm or firm tofu.  Just wrap it in foil and in a Ziploc bag and freeze it for at least 2 days or up to a year.  When you want to use it in any of your dishes, just defroze it in the refrigerator overnight.  When defroze, squeeze out the water as much as you can before cooking.  I normally used it in braising meat or chicken and the sponge like texture with soak up all the braising flavor.

This dish is actually kind of spicy because of the dried chilies, but you can freely omit the dried chilies for a more child friendly dish.





Ingredients:

4 skinless and boneless chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
1 block of frozen tofu, defroze, squeeze well and cut into triangle shape
5 dried Shiitake mushrooms, reconstitute and cut into pieces
1 inch of ginger, thinly sliced
1 big shallots, julienne
5 dried chilies
1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar
Oyster sauce
Dark soy sauce

Methods:

1.  Marinate the cut out chicken pieces with soy sauce, garlic powder, white pepper, sesame oil, Chinese cooking wine and a little cornstarch.  Mixed well and set aside.

2.  Heat up a wok.  When heated, add in some peanut oil.  When hot, add in the ginger and fry until fragrant.  Then add in the shallots and dried chilies and fry until fragrant.  Then add in the marinated chicken pieces.  Stir-fry well.  Then add in the mushroom, mix well.  Add enough water to cover half of the chicken.  Let it boil.

3.  When boiling, add in the frozen tofu, mix well and let the sauce covered the tofu.  Add in the brown sugar, oyster sauce and dark soy sauce.  Mix well and let it boil again.  When boiling, turn the heat to low and let it simmer for an hour.  Do a taste test and adjust the seasoning according to taste before serving.  Enjoy!