Info
- Course: Main Course
- Skill Level: Easy
- Cost: Moderate
- Favorited: 107 Times
The World’s #1 Collection of Cookbook Recipes Online
Steamed Chicken Breasts with Scallion-Ginger Sauce
Cookbook
Occasionally, I stumble over a culinary combination so obvious that I don’t know whether to marvel over the bad luck that has kept it from me until now or the good luck that finally brought it my way. This was certainly the case with the Chinese dipping sauce of oil, scallions, ginger, and salt that I had in a Cantonese restaurant in Vancouver. It was served with chicken that had been steamed, then lightly dressed with soy and sesame oil; but my host demonstrated the usefulness of the sauce by stirring it into soup as well.
Yield : Makes 4 servings
Cooking Time : 20 to 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breast halves, bone-in or out (see Notes)
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- ½ cup grapeseed, corn, or other light oil
- ¼ cup trimmed and chopped scallions, white and green parts combined (¼-inch pieces)
- Salt
- 2 tablespoons good soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Directions
1. Steam the chicken over simmering water for 6 to 10 minutes for boneless breasts, 10 to 15 minutes for bone-in. The chicken is done when white and firm to the touch; cut into a piece if you want to be certain.
2. Meanwhile, stir together the ginger, oil, scallions, and salt to taste in a bowl. The mixture should be quite strong; you can add more ginger, scallions, or salt if you like.
3. When the chicken is done, drizzle it with the soy sauce and sesame oil and serve. Pass the scallion-ginger sauce at the table or divide it into four small bowls for dipping.
With MINIMAL Effort:
This is a powerful sauce, one that will markedly change the character of anything to which you add it. Stir it into soup, noodles, or simply a bowl of rice, or steam some fish–just as you would chicken–and serve the sauce with that.
Notes
Wine: Beer, or a light, crisp white, like Sauvignon Blanc, Graves, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Gris, or dry Pinot Blanc.
You can speed up production by puréeing the ginger and oil in a blender, then pulsing in the scallion, but this makes the sauce creamy, almost muddy, and it’s much more attractive when hand-chopped, the solids sitting in the oil.
I like to steam the breasts on the bone, which takes about 5 minutes longer than boneless breasts, because they remain moister and a little more flavorful that way, but of course you can use boneless breasts. I also like to leave the skin on, which insulates the meat from drying out; again, you can use breasts that have had the skin removed.
If you don’t have a steamer, here’s how to jury-rig one: Put a rack into a pan and add water to a level just shy of the bottom of the rack. The chicken can go directly on the rack or on a plate on the rack. Cover the pan while cooking.
Make sure your oil is fresh; if it smells off, it is.
© 2001 Mark Bittman
Nutritional Information
Nutrients per serving
Nutritional information is based on 1/8 teaspoon added salt per serving.
765 kcal
4 % daily value
2 % daily value
2 % daily value
681 mg
78 mg
62 g
0 g
0 g
1 g
186 mg
977 mg
10 g
56 g
14 % daily value
