We have posted a lot of childhood dishes here on The Woks of Life, but this Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms & Dried Lily Flowers is one of the most memorable dishes my mother used to make for us when I was growing up. I was thinking about why I don’t make this steamed chicken dish more often these days, and I realized––as a food blogger, there just aren’t enough meals in the day!
I remember that my mother used to call this “steamed slippery chicken,” which is a word-for-word translation from Cantonese. The chicken is marinated in cornstarch, and after it’s been steamed, it has a silky, luxurious texture. My two older sisters and I always had smiles on our faces when we saw her preparing it for dinner. The method of marinating the chicken with corn starch prior to steaming, results in this silky texture and is also used in our Chicken and Mushroom Clay Pot Rice recipe.
Judy has been reminding me that I should post this recipe for everyone to enjoy, so here it finally is. One small adjustment I made is to use boneless chicken thighs instead of chicken on the bone like my mother used to make. The Chinese love using chicken on the bone, because it yields tastier results, but chopping the chicken into small pieces can create little fragments of bone that––admittedly––can cause a slightly unpleasant dining experience. I ended up buying chicken thighs and deboning them myself so I could leave the skin on. That said, you can buy boneless skinless chicken thighs if you don’t want to do all that work!
One additional word about the chicken skin, in case you’re wondering, is that Chinese generally prefer chicken on the bone with the skin. In some cases, like the Cantonese Poached Chicken – Bai Qie Ji, the chicken skin is an added feature of the dish! To maximize flavor, I left the skin on the chicken for this steamed chicken dish but feel free to use boneless and skinless chicken if you want a healthier, lower fat dish.
In addition to the chicken, the dried shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, and dried lily flowers yield an earthy flavor to complement the chicken. After the dish has been steamed, you’ll also get a delicious, brothy sauce that’s heavenly over rice. Ultimately, this dish is quite easy to make, but there are a few tricks to making it great––so read on and get cooking!
You’ll need:
- 1/4 cup dried wood ear mushrooms
- ⅓ cup dried lily flowers
- 10 medium dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked until reconstituted
- 1 pound boneless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat and cut into large bite-sized chunks
- ¼ cup water or chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon rice wine (optional)
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 scallion, chopped (white and green portions divided)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Take the wood ear mushrooms, dried lily flowers, and shiitake mushrooms, and rinse them all separately under running water to make sure any dirt or dust particles are rinsed away. After cleaning, cut off the tough bottom portion of the lily flowers.
Cut off the mushroom stems as well, which will speed up the soaking process. (Note: depending on the type and brand of dried mushrooms you have on hand, soaking times may vary. We have more tips in the mushroom section of our Chinese Dry and Preserved Ingredients Page.)
Transfer the wood ears, lily flowers, and mushrooms to three separate bowls filled with water, and soak for one to two hours. Use a plate to cover and press each of the dried ingredients down to ensure they are fully rehydrated.
Once reconstituted, roughly chop the wood ears. Squeeze some of the excess water from the mushrooms, and slice each one into quarter-inch thick slices. Be sure to squeeze the lily flowers dry as well.
Place the chicken, wood ears, mushrooms, lily flowers, water or chicken stock, vegetable oil, sesame oil, rice wine (if using), oyster sauce, sugar, salt, white pepper, grated ginger, and the white portions of the scallions into a bowl. Mix until most of the liquid is absorbed into the chicken. Set the green portions of the scallions aside. Cover the chicken and marinate for a minimum of 2 hours, or in the refrigerator overnight.
When you’re ready to cook the dish, let the chicken mixture come up to room temperature, cornstarch until it is uniformly incorporated. At this point, all of the liquid should be absorbed into the chicken, and there should be little or no standing liquid.
Transfer the mixture to a deep plate or pie dish, and sprinkle half of the green portion of the scallions over the top.
Place in a covered steamer, and steam over medium high heat for 10 minutes. Shut off the heat, and leave the chicken in the steamer for another 2 minutes. See our post on how to set up a steamer if you’re not familiar with steaming foods in Chinese cooking.
Carefully remove the cover from the steamer, taking care not to drip any water from the cover onto your steamed chicken dish. Sprinkle the rest of the scallions over the top.
Serve this steamed chicken with mushrooms and lily flowers with plenty of white rice!
Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms & Dried Lily Flowers
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup dried wood ear mushrooms
- 1/3 cup dried lily flowers
- 10 medium dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked until reconstituted)
- 1 pound boneless chicken thighs (450g, trimmed of fat and cut into large bite-sized chunks)
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon rice wine (optional)
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger (grated)
- 1 scallion (chopped, white and green portions divided)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Take the wood ear mushrooms, dried lily flowers, and shiitake mushrooms, and rinse them all separately under running water to make sure any dirt or dust particles are rinsed away. After cleaning, cut off the tough bottom portion of the lily flowers. Cut off the mushroom stems as well, which will speed up the soaking process.
- Transfer the wood ears, lily flowers, and mushrooms to three separate bowls filled with water, and soak for one to two hours. Use a plate to cover and press each of the dried ingredients down to ensure they are fully rehydrated.
- Once reconstituted, roughly chop the wood ears. Squeeze some of the excess water from the mushrooms, and slice each one into quarter-inch thick slices. Be sure to squeeze the lily flowers dry as well.
- Place the chicken, wood ears, mushrooms, lily flowers, water, vegetable oil, sesame oil, rice wine (if using), oyster sauce, sugar, salt, white pepper, grated ginger, and the white portions of the scallions into a bowl. Mix until most of the liquid is absorbed into the chicken. Set the green portions of the scallions aside. Cover the chicken and marinate for a minimum of 2 hours, or in the refrigerator overnight.
- When you’re ready to cook the dish, let the chicken mixture come up to room temperature, and add the cornstarch until it is uniformly incorporated. At this point, all of the liquid should be absorbed into the chicken, and there should be little or no standing liquid.
- Transfer the mixture to a deep plate or pie dish, and sprinkle half of the green portion of the scallions over the top. Place in a covered steamer, and steam over medium high heat for 10 minutes. Shut off the heat, and leave the chicken in the steamer for another 2 minutes.
- Carefully remove the cover from the steamer, taking care not to drip any water from the cover onto the dish. Sprinkle the rest of the scallions over the top, and serve with rice!
Nutrition
Lisa says
One of my favourite dish that my mum still prepares often 👍🏼
Lots of love from the Caribbean, love this website because it features authentic Cantonese recipes that my Chinese mum prepared for us growing up in the Caribbean.
Bill says
Hi Lisa, thanks for commenting from the Caribbean and hope you carry on the tradition and cook with your mom!
Aimes says
Hi!
Love your website! Just wondered, are the lily flowers and wood ear mushrooms a must when cooking this recipe? And also, could you use fresh shirataki mushrooms instead of dry? Would the dish taste the same?
Thank you!
Bill says
Hi Aime, you can use substitutes in this dish, but the flavor and textures will definitely be different.
Karen says
I haven’t made this yet but am so glad you provided this recipe as it brings back memories of my younger days in HK. I wonder if you have any timing for cooking this in an Instant Pot If so I’d be grateful if you would share it.
Bill says
Hi Karen, I haven’t had any experience steaming in the instant pot. I can tell you that this dish does not take very long to cook, as you want the chicken to be just done, tender and not overcooked.
Karen says
Hi Bill
I finally made this dish today and it was great. I did experiment steaming it in the instant pot. It took about 8 minutes including building up pressure and the chicken was tender and succulent. We Chinese know how important not to overlook our food, especially chicken. 😄
Thanks very much for the recipe. I have taken a picture of the end result but I see there isn’t the facility to upload it to my comments.
Bill says
Hi Karen, sounds delicious, and now I want it for dinner also. :)