Stewed Rustic Chicken with Mushrooms

Place the chicken in cold water, ensuring it's fully submerged, and add two tablespoons of cooking wine to blanch and remove any impurities.

Skim off any impurities that surface.

Once no more impurities are present, remove the blanched chicken from the pot.

Set aside the broth used to blanch the chicken for later, as it will be used for stewing the meat. Discard the impurities but keep the broth if you want.

Prepare green onion, ginger, garlic, star anise, and bay leaves.

Add two tablespoons of oil to the pot, heat it, then add the chicken and stir-fry for about three minutes.

Add green onion, ginger, garlic, star anise, bay leaves, and a pinch of five-spice powder, then stir-fry for one minute.

Add two tablespoons of yellow soybean paste, one tablespoon of light soy sauce, and one tablespoon of oyster sauce, stir-frying for a minute. Make sure you don't burn the pan while taking pictures!

Pour the reserved blanching broth into the pot and add half a tablespoon of dark soy sauce. If your chicken cooks easily, you can stew it directly in the pot. Ensure there is enough broth; don't add water halfway through. If it's not enough, add more boiling water. Stew for about 40 minutes.

Since my chicken from the countryside is tough, I added the broth and chicken to a pressure cooker and cooked for 15 minutes.

Blanch the shiitake and enoki mushrooms briefly, then drain and squeeze out the moisture.

After the pressure cooking, return the chicken and broth to a large pot. About ten minutes before it's done, add the mushrooms. The kids love the seasoned mushrooms.

Reduce the broth and taste for salt, adding more if necessary.

Feel free to use any available vegetables you have in the fridge to add to the dish. You can even add noodles, which taste fantastic!