This was the perfect dinner on a cold Friday night after a long, long week at school. We curled up watched old LOST episodes with bowls of this spicy, gingery chicken and vegetable braise lushing over rice. Okay, so lushing is not a word, but it somehow describes this meal. This one’s a keeper.

I’ve been wanting to try braising ever since I read a techniques article in Cooking Light a few months ago. So when I found the perfect ingredients in my fridge for an Asian-inspired dish, I decided to try it. Braising the chicken breast was nowhere as complicated as I thought it would be, and it made the chicken very flavorful and soft. I was just learning this technique, so I made it with one half of a chicken breast (cut into two pieces, one each for Ameir and I). It was actually enough for a very filling meal because of all the vegetables and rice.

To braise, you lightly brown the meat first, remove the meat from the pan, and cover the meat with some foil. Then add the vegetables to the same pan, deglaze with the stock, then simmer, then add the meat back and simmer. I added a middle step and simmered the stock with the vegetables before adding the meat. The liquid should not cover the meat, only come up the sides. Also, the key is to only simmer the meat – cooking it slowly is what gives it flavor and softness.

Click here for the recipe

Asian braised chicken with vegetables

1 chicken breast
3 cups stock (vegetable, chicken, or a mix of both)
2 carrots, sliced
4 scallions, sliced
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
10 spears asparagus, I think, sliced
1/4 onion, diced
1/2 can of sliced water chestnuts – about 1/4 cup, cut the slices in quarters
1/2 can baby corn, sliced
1 or 2 tbs pureed ginger-garlic mix
2 tbs at least of soy sauce
chili paste, to taste

*note* – Use a very low sodium stock because when the flavors condense, everything gets salty on its own. Also, these vegetable amounts are approximate, and you can obviously add anything else you want.

1. Pat the chicken breast dry and season with salt and pepper. With the pan on medium-high heat (add oil too), sear the chicken on both sides until brown, but not cooked through. Remove the chicken and cover.

2. Lower the heat a bit and add the onions, scallions, and ginger-garlic puree, sautee for a couple of minutes until soft. Add the carrots, asparagus, and mushrooms.

3. After a few minutes, pour the soy sauce in (I drizzled from the bottle two or three times around the pan) and add the chili sauce (twice back and forth across the pan, and it was *spicy*). Add the water chestnuts (surprisingly, even if you add them now, they will not lose their crispness).

4. Add the stock, stir well, cover, and let the mixture simmer for 30 min. Come back and stir every 5 or 10 minutes. It’ll be quite reduced by the end.

5. Take the stock off the heat and let the stock stop bubbling. Add the baby corn. Move some vegetables around and add the chicken breast in the middle of the pan, such that it can actually touch the pan. (I don’t think that is necessary, though.) Scoop some of the vegetables onto the top of the chicken. Put the pan back onto the heat, cover, and *simmer* (just a few bubbles rising every few seconds – you do not want to boil this. Braising requires cooking slowly). Simmer for about 20 minutes.

6. To serve: make a big pile of rice in the middle of a large bowl. Scoop the vegetables on top. Cut the chicken into eatable pieces and place on top of the pile. Pour the remaining broth on top of the rice.

so. good.

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