Braised Chicken with Lemon & Shallots (柠汁炬鸡)

Yesterday evening, when I was lying on sofa browsing through a stack of newly bought cookbooks, I suddenly realised that I've bought 10 books over a span of one and a half weeks! Well, if this is not crazy, I don't know what is! Just when I thought that I better make good use of the books since the damage has already done, a recipe caught my eyes and I thought it would be perfect to cook on a day that I don't have to go to class - today, that is! The best part is that I have all the ingredients on hand, including a zestless lemon in the fridge, which was a leftover from here. That would save me a trip to the market!

Having said that, I was still comtemplating whether I should go to the market just to get some coriandar or spring onions as garnish this morning. But the weather was so hot and humid that I did not feel like going out at all. Thus, I can only show a picture of boring brown color chicken dish here. But don't let the picture fool you, the dish is full of flavour and extremely yummy. In fact, it tasted so good and I've decided that this will be the first dish that I will cook for my hubby when I go over to Saudi. Ha!

Braised Chicken with Lemon & Shallots Recipe (柠汁炬鸡)

Ingredients:
3 pieces of chicken drumsticks and 3 pieces of thighs
12 shallots, peeled
3cm ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves, peeled
Juice from 1 lemon
1 tbs oil
1 tbs shaoxing wine
1 tsp sesame oil
1 cup chicken broth
1 tbs brown sugar
Cornstarch solution (2 tbs water + 1/2 tsp cornstarch)
Salt, to taste

Marinade:
2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp shaoxing wine
1/2 tsp salt
pepper, to taste

Method:
1) Marinate the chicken pieces with the marinade for at least 15 minutes.
2) Heat up oil in a wok. Saute shallots, garlic and ginger slices for a while, remove from wok and set aside.
3) Place chicken pieces in the wok and fried until the surface of chicken turn golden brown. Pour shaoxing wine around the side of the wok.
4) Pour shallots, garlic and ginger slices back to the wok. Add in chicken broth and lemon juice. When it is boil, add in brown sugar and salt.
5) Cover the wok with lid, and let it cook under low heat for about 10-15 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces a few times.
6) When the chicken pieces are cooked, remove from wok and place them on a plate.
7) Pour the cornstarch solution into the gravy, heat it up, then add sesame oil.
8) Pour the gravy on the chicken pieces, serve.