We have posted a lot of childhood dishes here on The Woks of Life, but this Chinese Steamed Chicken recipe with mushrooms & dried lily flowers is one of the most memorable dishes my mother used to make for my sisters and me growing up.
As I wrote this post, I was thinking about why I don’t make this steamed chicken dish more often. Then I realized…as a food blogger, there just aren’t enough meals in the day!
Note:
This recipe was originally published on April 21, 2016. We have since updated it with higher resolution photos, metric measurements, and nutrition information. The recipe remains the same. Enjoy!
Childhood Memories
My mother called this dish “jing waat gai” or “steamed slippery chicken,” which is a word-for-word translation from Cantonese.
The word “waat” basically means “slippery” or “silky.” And it’s true—the chicken is marinated in cornstarch to give it a silky, luxurious texture after steaming.
My two older sisters and I always had smiles on our faces when we saw her at the kitchen counter, preparing it for dinner. It was one of those meals you anticipated eagerly—not just the chicken itself, but the flavorful juices you could scoop onto your rice.
Marinating the chicken with cornstarch prior to steaming is basically velveting the chicken, which is a method we use for preparing proteins for searing, stir-frying, blanching, or steaming. Steaming, however, does result in the silkiest texture.
We also use this technique in our Chicken and Mushroom Clay Pot Rice recipe, and Sarah’s Steamed Chicken with Chinese Sausage (which she based on this recipe), as well as Judy’s Steamed Chicken with Black Beans.
Steaming is actually one of our favorite ways to cook chicken. Try this recipe, or any of the recipes I mentioned above, and you’ll see why!
The dried shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, and dried lily flowers yield an earthy flavor to complement the chicken. And that sauce I was talking about? It’s a broth-like mixture of juices that get released from the chicken, mushrooms, and marinade that is heavenly over rice.
Judy has been reminding me that I should post this recipe for everyone to enjoy, so here it finally is!
What Cut of Chicken to Use
One small adjustment I made is to use boneless chicken thighs instead of chicken on the bone like my mother used to make. The Chinese love using chicken on the bone, because it yields tastier results.
However, chopping the chicken into small pieces can create little fragments of bone that—admittedly—can cause a slightly unpleasant dining experience.
I ended up buying chicken thighs and deboning them myself so I could leave the skin on. That said, you can buy boneless skinless chicken thighs if you don’t want to do all that work! Just cut them into bite-size pieces, and you’re set.
The Chinese generally prefer chicken on the bone with the skin. In some cases, like our Cantonese Poached Chicken – Bai Qie Ji, the chicken skin is an added feature of the dish!
To maximize flavor, I left the skin on for this steamed chicken recipe, but again, feel free to use boneless skinless chicken if you want an easier, lower fat dish.
Ultimately, this dish is quite easy to make, but there are a few tricks to making it great. So read on and get cooking!
Steamed Chicken Recipe Instructions
Prepare the dish
Take the dried wood ear mushrooms, dried lily flowers, and dried shiitake mushrooms, and rinse them all separately under running water to make sure any dirt or dust particles are rinsed away.
Cut off the mushroom stems as well, which can be tough. This will also speed up the soaking process. (Note: depending on the type and brand of dried mushrooms you have on hand, soaking times may vary. We have more tips in the mushroom section of our Chinese Dry and Preserved Ingredients Page.)
Transfer the wood ears, lily flowers, and mushrooms to three separate bowls. Fill with hot water, and soak for 2 hours. Use a plate to cover, and press each of the dried ingredients down to ensure they get fully rehydrated.
Once reconstituted, roughly chop the wood ears. Squeeze some of the excess water from the mushrooms, and slice each one into quarter-inch thick slices. Squeeze the lily flowers dry, trim away the tough bottom portion.
Marinate:
Place the chicken, wood ears, mushrooms, lily flowers, water or chicken stock, vegetable oil, sesame oil, rice wine (if using), oyster sauce, sugar, salt, freshly ground white pepper, grated ginger, and the white portions of the scallions into a bowl. (Set the green portions of the scallions aside.)
Mix until the chicken absorbs most of the liquid. You’ll be surprised at how much liquid it will absorb, and how juicy the chicken will be as a result!
Cover the chicken, and marinate for a minimum of 2 hours on the counter, or in the refrigerator overnight.
Cook:
When you’re ready to cook the dish, let the chicken mixture come up to room temperature (around 1-2 hours). Mix in the cornstarch until it is uniformly incorporated.
At this point, all of the liquid should be absorbed into the chicken, and there should be little or no standing liquid.
Transfer the mixture to a deep heatproof plate (a pie plate works well), making sure that the chicken is in a single layer (any thicker, and it will affect the steaming time). Sprinkle half of the green portion of the scallions over the top.
Place in a covered pre-heated steamer with boiling water, and steam over medium high heat for 10 minutes.
Shut off the heat, and leave the chicken in the steamer for another 2 minutes.
Not sure how to Steam your food or set up a steamer?
See our post on how to set up a steamer if you’re not familiar with steaming foods in Chinese cooking! You may have everything you need in your kitchen already (basically a covered wok or pot that can accommodate the steaming dish, and a rack or empty tuna can!)
Carefully remove the cover from the steamer, taking care not to drip any water from the cover onto your steamed chicken dish. Sprinkle the rest of the scallions over the top.
Serve this steamed chicken with mushrooms and lily flowers with plenty of steamed rice!
(If you’re trying to eat less white rice for health reasons, this is one of those times when eating it would be considered “worth it,” folks. Alternatively, you can also try Kaitlin’s Quinoa Rice as a healthier option!)
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Recipe
Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms & Dried Lily Flowers
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup dried wood ear mushrooms
- 1/3 cup dried lily flowers
- 10 medium dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked until reconstituted)
- 1 pound boneless chicken thighs (450g, trimmed of fat and cut into large bite-sized chunks)
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon rice wine (optional)
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger (grated)
- 1 scallion (chopped, white and green portions divided)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Take the wood ear mushrooms, dried lily flowers, and shiitake mushrooms, and rinse them all separately under running water to remove any dirt. Trim the mushroom stems as well, which can be tough.
- Transfer the wood ears, lily flowers, and mushrooms to three separate bowls. Cover with hot water, and soak for 2 hours. Use a plate to cover and press each of the dried ingredients down to ensure they are fully rehydrated.
- Roughly chop the wood ears. Squeeze some of the excess water from the mushrooms, and slice into quarter-inch thick slices. Squeeze the lily flowers dry, and trim away with tough bottom portion.
- Place the chicken, wood ears, mushrooms, lily flowers, water, vegetable oil, sesame oil, rice wine (if using), oyster sauce, sugar, salt, white pepper, grated ginger, and the white portions of the scallions into a bowl. Mix until the chicken absorbs most of the liquid. Set the green portions of the scallions aside. Cover the chicken and marinate on the counter for a minimum of 2 hours, or in the refrigerator overnight.
- When you’re ready to cook the dish, let the chicken mixture come up to room temperature (1-2 hours), and add the cornstarch until it is uniformly incorporated. All the liquid should be absorbed into the chicken. There should be little or no standing liquid.
- Transfer the mixture to a deep plate or pie dish so it is in 1 layer, and sprinkle half of the green portion of the scallions over the top. Place in a covered pre-heated steamer with boiling water, and steam over medium-high heat for 10 minutes. Shut off the heat, and leave the chicken in the steamer (covered) for another 2 minutes.
- Carefully uncover the chicken, taking care not to drip any condensation onto the dish. Sprinkle the rest of the scallions over the top, and serve with rice!
