Went to Sitiawan recently (a small town located at Perak, Malaysia) and brought back their locally famous "Fook Chow/Fuzhou" Red Glutinous Wine Lees. Not expensive, a bottle like mine in the picture only cost me RM7.00. Red wine lees is the residue, the ang zao from making red rice wine. This dish tasted sweet as most of the local red yeast rice residue used are for the production of sweet red yeast rice wine.
This is a common dishes that most confinement lady would cook for the new mum to consume during the first 30 days after childbirth. Ginger is to enhance the fragrance of this dish as well it posses warm and healthy properties which helps to expel winds in the body. Whereas wine is helpful in warming and nourishing the body, which promotes blood circulation.
As the red yeast rice residue was prepared using glutinous rice, these sticky rice residue will disintegrate and thicken the sauce automatically after cooking. Therefore, starch mixture is not necessary in order to thicken the sauce.
Ingredients : (serves 2)
1 whole Chicken Leg (about 260g) - chopped into pieces
15g-20g Ginger (thinly sliced)
35g Black Fungus (weight after soaked)
1.5 tbsp Sesame Oil
3 tsp Red Glutinous Rice Wine Lees (红槽)
120ml Red Glutinous Rice Wine (红槽酒) - I replaced with Water
1 tsp Light Soy Sauce
2 small rock sugar cubes or a small pinch of sugar
Salt to taste
Marinate:
1 tsp Red Glutinous Wine Lees (红槽)
1 tsp Light Soy Sauce
Step by Step:
1. Marinate chicken with marinating ingredients for at least 30 mins. (I deboned my chicken before cutting into cubes)
2. In a wok, heat sesame oil, add in sliced ginger and saute them till fragrant. Add in wine lees and fry until fragrant but not burnt. Stir fast to prevent burning. Lower the flame if needed.
3. Add in chicken and black fungus. Stir well till red glutinous wine lees evenly spread and chicken is cooked on surface. Let it cook for about 3 mins stirring continuously until aromatic.
4. Add in red glutinous rice wine (I replaced with water), rock sugar, salt and light soy sauce and stir well. Reduce heat, cover with lid and let it simmer for about 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. (Longer cooking time needed for larger chunk of chickens)
5. Dish up & ready to serve. Serve hot with steamed white rice.
If you’re cooking bigger portions or having leftovers, you can keep the remaining portions in the freezer. When reheating, add some water to the gravy if the taste is too strong, which is usually the case when it’s kept in the fridge.
If you can’t get hold of these homemade red glutinous wine lees, you can easily purchase those bottled wine lees in any leading supermarkets or Asian grocery stalls.
Happy Cooking..