White-cut chicken with ginger dip and garlic gai lan
No Winter Solstice table is complete without white-cut chicken: poached until silky, served with a sizzling ginger and spring onion dip and garlicky gai lan.
- 1 hr 15 min
- Serves 4
- Poach
- Medium
Why it suits you: The Cantonese say the Winter Solstice matters more than New Year, and white-cut chicken is a must at the family dinner. Poaching needs no oil and leaves springy skin and silky meat; the ginger dip warms the stomach and cuts richness, and garlic gai lan rounds out a balanced meal for the whole family.
Method
Prep 20 min · Cook 55 min- 1Rinse the chicken. Bring a large pot of water to the boil with the ginger slices, spring onions and 1 tsp salt. Dip the chicken in and lift it out three times to tighten the skin.
- 2Submerge the chicken, cover and poach on the lowest heat for 35 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave for 10 minutes. It's done when the thigh juices run clear.
- 3Plunge the chicken into iced water for 10 minutes for springy skin and silky meat, then drain and chop.
- 4Mix the grated ginger and chopped spring onion with a pinch of salt, then pour over oil heated until smoking to make the dip.
- 5Cut the gai lan into lengths. Fry the garlic until fragrant, add the gai lan, splash in the Shaoxing wine and a little water and stir-fry until tender. Toss with the soy sauce and serve with the chicken.
Cautions
- Cook the chicken through — there should be no pink juices by the thigh bone.
Chef's tips
- Keep the water at the barest shiver while poaching, and save the poaching stock for cooking rice or soup.
The TCM view
Chicken is sweet and warm, warming the middle and supporting qi; ginger is pungent and warm, dispelling cold; spring onion is pungent and warm, freeing yang; gai lan is sweet, pungent and cool, easing the throat and balancing the warmth of the chicken. Even and balanced, it suits neutral types at the solstice family dinner.
