Sesame Chicken Soup with Shiitake & Goji
Serves: 2-4
Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 30 mins
T = Tablespoon
t = teaspoon
2 packs (8 pcs.) BRD Chicken Drums; frenched*
2” knob fresh ginger; washed & thinly sliced
4 oz dried shiitake or maitake mushrooms**
3 T Sesame Oil
1/2 cup Jasmine Rice; washed***
1/2 cup Mirin; sweetened rice wine
1/4 cup Goji Berries ****
2-3” strip of Kombu; dried seaweed
16 oz BRD Chicken Stock
1 T Toasted Sesame Seeds
Salt to taste.
Paper Towels
Sharp Pairing knife
Cutting Board
Plate
Slotted Spoon
Wire mesh strainer or small bowl
Medium sauce pot or small dutch oven
Prep
- Read the entire recipe before starting.
- Rinse and dry chicken drums with paper towel. French trim each drum by cutting around the bone about 2 inches below the joint on the skinny end. After cutting cleanly through all the skin and connective tissue, and without cutting into the bone, scrape the excess skin down and remove from the joint end*.
- Put rice into a wire mesh and rinse under running water; agitating with your free hand until water runs clear. Drain and set aside. If you don't have a wire strainer, put rice in a bowl and fill with water, agitating and changing water until water appears clear. 3 changes minimum.
- Wash ginger thoroughly. Do not peel*****. Slice as thinly as you can.
Process
- Preheat dutch oven over medium heat.
- Add sesame oil and heat until shimmering, but not smoking. If you see it smoke or begin to smoke, remove from heat immediately. Do not let it burn. If it does burn, start over because it will taste bad. I promise.
- Add in chicken drums and lightly brown. Salt generously. Remove to a plate to rest.
- Add ginger slices and stir until fragrant, about 1 min.
- Add rice and stir until fragrant, about 1 min.
- Deglaze with Mirin.
- Add chicken drums, kombu, mushrooms and goji berries. Add broth to almost cover.
- Bring to boil and then drop to low and simmer for 20 mins.
- Remove kombu and discard. Easiest with a slotted spoon.
- Salt to taste. I mean really taste it and continue salting and tasting until you like the flavor. I used significantly more than I thought I would.
-
Serve with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and a swirl of sesame oil.
* This dish is traditionally made by cutting legs and thighs into smaller pieces. Feel free to do this but only if you have a cleaver or a sharp knife with a thick spine. Chicken bones can break knifes. Broken knifes can break humans.
French dressing the drum is not mandatory but makes eating it much cleaner and pleasant.
Frenching the drum sticks gives you a clean surface to grab onto. Be sure to make a clean cut around the bone, cutting through all the connective tissue and ligaments by taking you time. It will be worth it when eating. The safest (and easiest) way to remove the end from the bone is to stand the drum up on the cutting board, meat side up and find the V-notch on the smaller end of the joint. slide the tip of your knife into the joint opposite of the V-notch and firmly push down or hit the base of the knife with the palm of your hand. With the knife tip in firm contact with the cutting board, peel/pull the drums stick away. This should leave the skin on the cutting board and the drum with a clean bone.
** Feel free to use fresh mushrooms and add them after you brown the chicken and before the ginger. 2-3 large caps should do it.
*** Rinsing rice prior to cooking in the crucial for achieve tender yet not mushy rice. The water should be run clear before you cook the rice. If it is a little hazy or you are unsure if you rinsed enough, rinse again.
**** Goji Berries are expensive. A store with gojis in the bulk section will be your best best as you can buy what you need. Having extra is not a bad thing though, as they are very nutrient dense and go really well in oatmeals and the like. If you can't find gojis or don't want to pay that much, currants have a similar flavor profile.
***** A lot of ginger flavor is in the skin. It’s a pain to peel or scrape clean with a spoon so I just don’t. Wash thoroughly by scrubbing first.