Shiitake Chicken

Hadi and Justin, for some reason I don't understand, really like Shiitake mushrooms. Well, I don't really like mushrooms (actually, I detest them!) so I suppose its pretty much the same thing. Only Shiitake is so much stronger! Particularly the dried ones, which Justin uses here. Oh well, here we go :D

What you need:
3 chicken thighs
3 shallots
8 dried shiitake mushrooms
4 dried chillies, sliced
6 tablespoons oyster sauce
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Water
Oil, for cooking

What you do:

1. Prepare the shiitake mushrooms by soaking them in boiling water for about 10 minutes, then cutting of their stems.
2. Heat some oil in a wok. Add in the shallots, and fry for about 3 minutes on medium heat. Add in the sliced dried chillies, mushrooms and chicken and fry for about 5 minutes. Add in the oyster sauce, Worcestershire sauce and enough water to make a thick gravy.
3. Cover and leave to simmer for about half an hour. Serve.

Another simple yet tasty recipe from Justin. I have to say though that he (with the help of Hadi also) didn't prepare the mushrooms properly. Instead of using boiling water, they used cold water instead. Perhaps because of that, the mushroom flavour didn't really permeate into the sauce. Well, for me that's a good thing :P But it just made the chicken taste like normal oyster sauce chicken, unless you eat it with the mushrooms - which I didn't, but the other two did. :P

Like usual, you can vary the amounts of any of the ingredients to suit your personal taste. I found it a bit too spicy, so I would've put just 2 dried chillies or something. But yeah, up to you ^^

Shiitake are not really a common ingredient in our dinners, even though the boys really like it. Its featured in only one dish so far, the Claypot Chicken Rice (which, incidentally, tastes really good!) In that dish, the mushrooms lends its strong flavour to make just a slight contribution to the overall flavour, making it quite tasty :D I still wouldn't eat the mushroom though. :P

I just looked it up on wiki, the entry on Shiitake is quite interesting :P Among the high points, drying the mushrooms brings out the umami flavour (the 5th taste!) which, incidentally, is mainly due to glutamates, the most famous of which is monosodium glutamate (MSG). So does that mean Shiitake have a lot of MSG? I have no idea... But apparently, they're quite good for you! They have been shown to exhibit anti-tumour properties in lab mice and many other immunological benefits. They're also a pretty good source of Vitamin D, apparently. Interresting... very interesting. I should trawl Wikipedia more :P