Mummy's Chicken Oyster Sauce

My mum's chicken oyster sauce is a regular on our menu back home. It is my mum's version of Kung Pao Chicken and it is a dish from her modest repertoire of dishes. My mum is a very good cook but she is not very adventurous when it comes to cooking (I take after her in this respect, the not adventurous part). She has a good collection of cookbooks though, which prompted my dad to quip "Your Mummy has 100 cookbooks but we always eat the same old thing". Well, mum's emphasis is quality and not quantity. Better to stick to the tried and tested rather than risk a disaster. Right, Mummy? Hee..hee...

The aroma and flavours that come from the fried cashew nuts and dried chillies is what makes this dish so tasty. My mum also likes to add shitake mushrooms to add more bite to the dish. I forgot about the mushrooms and didn't put any in mine.

Although this dish does not have much gravy, still we all love to scoop whatever little there is at the bottom of the dish to mix with rice. Or better still, the last person at the table will put some rice into the almost empty dish, stir and experience a little bit of joy!

I love to eat the dried chillies and whenever I cook this dish, I am always generous with the chillies. This dish goes well with our family's all time favourite soya sauce vinegar condiment. It is  made by mixing soya sauce and vinegar with a bit of sugar and we add lots of minced garlic and sliced chillies. 

Mummy's Chicken Oyster Sauce

Ingredients :

(To marinate chicken)

- 3 chicken legs, cut into bite sized pieces

- 3 cloves of garlic, pounded or minced

- 1 tablespoon of light soya sauce

- 1 teaspoon sesame oil

- a dash of pepper

(for cooking)

- 6 dried chillies, rinsed and pat dry

- 15 cashew nuts

- 3 cloves garlic, minced

- 6 slices ginger

- 2 big onions, cut into quarters

- 2 stalks spring onions (Cut off the white part to stir fry and reserve the green part for garnishing)

(for sauce)

- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce

- 1 tablespoon light soya sauce

- 1 tablespoon dark soya sauce

- 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with a little water

Method :

- Marinate the chicken pieces with garlic, soya sauce, sesame oil and pepper. Set aside for 30 minutes.

- Heat oil in wok.

- Fry cashew nuts until golden brown. Remove and set aside.

- Fry dried chillies until crispy. Remove and set aside.

- In the same oil, stir fry ginger until fragrant.

- Add garlic and spring onion stalks and stir fry for a few seconds.

- Add chicken and fry until chicken turns opaque.

- Add sauce (except cornstarch mixture) and mix to coat chicken.

- Add a little water, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

- Add big onions, stir and simmer for a further 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

- Add the fried cashew nuts and dried chillies.

- Stir and add cornstarch to thicken the gravy.

- Garnish with spring onions.

- Serve hot with white rice.