Adam Liaw’s Japanese-style braised chicken stew
Known as chikuzen-ni, this Japanese-style one-pan simmered dish is delicious at any time, whether it’s a simple dinner or a smaller breakfast dish.
Ingredients
8 shiitake mushrooms, soaked in 700ml of hot water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 carrots, peeled and cut into irregular 3cm chunks
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into irregular 3cm chunks
1 small sweet potato, cut into 2cm rounds
500g boneless chicken thighs, cut into 4cm pieces
1 tsp powdered dashi (or vegetable stock or chicken stock)
2 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp sake
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
8 snow peas, tailed
Method
Step 1
Remove the mushrooms from the liquid (reserving the liquid), trim and discard the stalks and halve the caps. Heat a wide frying pan over medium-high heat and add the oil. Fry the carrots, potatoes and sweet potato for about 3 minutes until the surface of the vegetables starts to wrinkle. Remove from the pan. Add the chicken and fry until lightly browned, then remove from the pan.
Step 2
Add the reserved mushroom liquid, powdered dashi, mirin, sake, soy sauce and sugar and bring to a simmer. Return the vegetables and chicken to the pan, stir gently and cover with a piece of baking paper and a small lid that sits on top of the pan but doesn’t reach the sides. Reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes until there is only about 1cm of liquid in the base of the pan. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to cool to room temperature.
Step 3
Pour boiling water over the snow peas and allow to stand for about 2 minutes until slightly softened. Reheat the stew. To serve, place the ingredients in a serving bowl, arrange the snow peas and pour over a little of the simmering liquid.
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Adam Liaw is a cookbook author and food writer, co-host of Good Food Kitchen and former MasterChef winner.
