For thousand of years, human has been consuming Ginger for health benefit purposes. Ginger is commonly used to treat various types of “stomach problems,” including motion sickness, morning sickness, colic, upset stomach, gas, diarrhea, nausea caused by cancer treatment, nausea and vomiting after surgery, as well as loss of appetite. It has a warming effects that stimulates blood circulation. Ginger also helps to reduce pain & inflammation such as headache & mentrual cramps.
There's a lot ginger related products in the market ranging from ginger tea, ginger powder, ginger candy, ginger beer, ginger ale, ginger wine, & many more.
You can easily find ginger in any wet market or supermarket, separating into 2 types - old/matured ginger & young ginger roots. Matured ginger is generally more spicy than the younger ones. Old ginger normally comes with dried skin & usually some sand/mud still sticking to it, hence having more tiny root in its flesh as you trying to cut it.
Young ginger root has a thin, light tan skin and has a less woody texture than the more common mature ginger root. Smooth clean skin that appears slightly moist is a sign of freshness.
So, if you are feeling a little bit unwell or having some stomach wind especially, perhaps you will want to try to make this simple dish - Steamed Chicken with Ginger & Miso Bean Paste.
Ingredients : (serves 2)
330g chicken meat cut into bite size
60g old ginger
25ml water
1 tsp Miso Bean Paste (you can use any soy bean paste / taucu)
5 tsp water ( i prefer more gravy, I added 6 tsp water)
2 tsp cooking oil
Marinade :
1/3 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
3/4 tsp sugar
1 tsp Chinese Hua Tiao Wine
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp mushroom flavoured oyster sauce / oyster sauce
Step by Step:
1. Clean & cut chicken into small pieces. Marinade with all the seasoning above. Leave aside for 15 minutes.
2. Remove ginger skin & cut in slices. Put ginger in food blender & 25ml water. Blend until you get a ginger paste.
3. Now in a heated pan, add cooking oil. Put in Miso bean paste & ginger paste.
4. Fry till fragrant & water will evaporate, ginger paste will turn into thick paste. Turn off the heat.
5. Put in chicken & quickly toss to coat chicken with ginger paste. Do not cook the chicken here.
6. Remove from pan & transfer to a plate for steaming.
7. Add 5-6 tsp water to the chicken (for more gravy). Eventually, chicken itself will release water when it is cooked. So make sure your bowl is deep enough, otherwise the gravy will overflow when cooked.
8. In a wok of boiling water, put chicken to steam for 15 minutes.
9. Garnish with spring onions.
10. Ready to serve hot.
Alert : This dish might be too spicy for small kids.