Chicken Pongteh

I recently came across this chicken dish called 'ayam pongteh' or chicken pongteh, which is a Nyonya dish in a few blogs and in Facebook. Looking at the recipe, I thought it would be tasty and easy to cook. So I browsed the recipe by Gertrude who resides in the U.S. (Snippets From My Kitchen. This lady can cook and bake very well), adapted it and here's my ayam pongteh dish:



Our dinner :


Verdict : Everyone loved it, including my pernickety, food critique hubby!

Here's my recipe :
1) Half a chicken + 3 unchopped chicken drumsticks (we all found that chicken drumsticks pongteh tastes better than other parts of the chicken!)
2) 2 tablespoons of tau cheong
3) Chopped garlic and shallots
4) 2-3 medium-sized potatoes, cut into wedges
5) 5 Chinese mushrooms, cut into halves
6) 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
7) Pepper
8) Soy Sauce
9) Water

Method:
1) Marinate the chicken with a little pepper and soy sauce for several hours.
2) Brown the chopped garlic and shallots with the tau cheong paste.
3) Put in the chicken and shallow fry for at least 15-20 minutes until all the chicken pieces turn brown and smells aromatic. When you fry the chicken, you can use the spatula to press on the whole chicken drumsticks against the wok to break up the meat a little. This way, the sauce will seep deep inside. When you eat, it tastes much better, both the texture and the taste.
4) Put brown sugar and mushrooms.
5) Pour in enough water to cover the chicken and cover the wok or claypot. Let the chicken simmer for about 15 minutes.
6) Put in the potato wedges. If the water has dried up, add some more water. Test the taste and add soy sauce / sugar if necessary.
7) Simmer for another 15 minutes.
8) Dish out and serve hot.

You can also cook using pork and call it Babi Pongteh or Pork Pongteh. It tastes just as good. Use half-fat, half-lean pork.