Easy and aromatic garlicky steamed chicken with black bean sauce. This is super easy and friendly to make in summer. So need to stand in front of hot fire and you get well flavored and tender chicken dish made within 15 minutes.
Chicken is easy to prepare and cook. There are a large group of chicken recipes on the blog. Chicken can be fried and toasted with salt and pepper, or fry with lots of aromatics. Older hen can be used in soups with mushrooms or bamboo shoots. Although quite common and simple, chicken meat can be easily overcooked especially in stir-frying recipes. Steaming is the friendliest to beginners since the temperature of the vapour is quite stable. I introduced very simple steamed chicken with scallion and ginger to keep the original taste of the chicken, matched with a dipping sauce. This one the chicken is coated with a heavier seasonings and sauce. With the protection of the starch, the chicken cubes can be super tender but full of flavor.
Cook’s Note
- Marinating chicken is the key step for a good flavor result.
- Pour hot oil over garlic and fermented black bean can motivate the aroma.
- Adding your favorite vegetable at the bottom have two purposes. The first one is to support the chicken and make sure they are evenly cooked. And the second is to absorb the juicy of the chicken.
Instructions
Cut chicken meat into small pieces and then marinating with all the marinating ingredients namely light soy sauce, sugar, white pepper, oyster sauce, Chinese cooking oil, spring onion and ginger slices. Mix well and set aside for 30 minutes. Then discard the spring onion sections and ginger slices. Add cornstarch in and mix well.
Finely chop garlic and then roughly cut fermented black beans. Place the mushrooms at the bottom, and then top with chicken. Spread the garlic and fermented black beans evenly over the chicken. Heat around 2 tablespoons of cooking oil until smoky and pour evenly over the garlic. Mix well.
Place mushroom and wood ear in bottom and then spread the chicken meat. Steam with high fire for 15 minutes.
Transfer out, sprinkle some extra light soy sauce and sesame oil to create some naughty flavors. Serve with steamed rice.
Other Chicken Recipes
- Kung pao chicken
- Taiwanese salt and pepper chicken
- Chinese steamed chicken
- Scallion oil Crispy chicken
- Salt and pepper chicken wings
- Chinese soy sauce chicken
- Chinese braised chicken
- Chongqing Mala Chicken
- Herbal chicken soup
- Chinese roasted chicken
- Szechuan fresh pepper chicken (尖椒鸡)
Steamed Chicken with Black Bean Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 chicken drumsticks , remove the bones and cut into small pieces
Marinating Ingredients
- 1 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp. oyster sauce , optional
- 1/4 tsp. sugar
- 1/4 tsp. white pepper powder
- 2 spring onions
- 5 slices of ginger
Others
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch
- 4 garlic cloves , finely chopped
- 1 tbsp. fermented black beans
- 2 tbsp. vegetable cooking oil , heat until smoky
- wood ear mushrooms as needed
- other mushroom
Instructions
- Cut chicken meat into small pieces and then marinating with all the marinating ingredients namely light soy sauce, sugar, white pepper, oyster sauce, Chinese cooking oil, spring onion and ginger slices. Mix well and set aside for 30 minutes.
- Then discard the spring onion sections and ginger slices. Add cornstarch in and mix well.
- Finely chop garlic and then roughly cut fermented black beans. Place the mushrooms at the bottom, and then top with chicken. Spread the garlic and fermented black beans evenly over the chicken. Heat around 2 tablespoons of cooking oil until smoky and pour evenly over the garlic. Mix well.
- Steam with high fire for 15 minutes.
- Transfer out, sprinkle some extra light soy sauce and sesame oil to create some naughty flavors. Serve with steamed rice.
Hi Elaine, what kind/brand of steamer do you recommend?
A bamboo steamer is always the best but has a short service time, I think an electric steamer can be my first choice for steaming dishes. Happy cooking, Sammy. Thanks for stopping by.
Although I cook a lot of Chinese dishes, this was the first time I’ve made a steamed dish. My setup was a large regular pot with 2 stacked Instant Pot steaming racks and a pyrex dish on top. Despite the seeming simplicity, the dish is very flavorful and delicious. Oh and easy to make. Definitely a keeper. Thanks very much Elaine! I’ll be looking for more steamed recipes.
Thanks, Iryna! It is really nic to hear from you with such great feedback. Simple dishes can be quite good! Happy cooking.
I have made this a few times. I absolutely love it. But why do we need to remove the spring onion and ginger? Also I cook mine in my rice cooker. While rice is cooking underneath, the chicken is cooking on top in a casserole that fits in the steamer.
Angie,
You can also keep them. I remove them just because I want the dish to be cleaner.
Hi Elaine, which vegetable can i use instead of mushrooms? I cant find it in my country.
Delicious! Loved by my fussy family who live authentic Asian flavours. Thank you
Thank you Ashena. Happy cooking!