It's here! Valentine's Day makes me think of spring, but there's a cold front moving in; hopefully the last one of the season.
So, to start with expressing self-love and care, I decided to make a special dish, David Chang's Chick Kut-Teh. It is really flavorful and warming. I've served it over basmati rice and the only changes I made were to grind the peppercorns and use bone-in chicken thighs since they were so less expensive:
"This is truly one of those do-whatever-you-want chicken soups, but mine involved these steps: Soak 5 dried shiitake mushrooms in water (or use fresh ones, which you don't need to soak). Dice an onion and two celery stalks. Finely dice two cloves of garlic and a jalape?o (optional). Finely julienne a knob of ginger (I used at least 3 ounces). Then throw all that into a pot and saut? in oil until onions are softened. Add white and black peppercorns (roughly 10 each) and a pod of star anise to the saut? then toast for a minute or two. Throw in your chicken (I used a pack of boneless thighs) to brown. Once browned, slice up the shiitakes and add them (plus the water ? it's flavor) to the pot. Add a dash of soy sauce and chicken stock until everything is covered. Water and chicken bouillon works fine. Add a few tablespoons of shaoxing wine or cooking wine. Cook until chicken is done, remove chicken, and keep cooking broth for another 10-20 minutes to reduce. If the broth needs salt, add some, or more soy sauce, bouillon or fish sauce. Add shredded chicken back to the pot. I add some chopped scallions to the bowl while the broth is boiling hot (to cut the raw flavor), and top with cilantro right before you eat.
This took about half an hour. You could add some rice and extra stock or water for a flavorful congee. I ate this with vermicelli rice noodles I had in the pantry. Macaroni or pasta would also be fine. Add chili oil! Add sesame oil! Add bok choy!"
