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
Sally says
Delicious, steamed for about 15 minutes but didn’t really have to as got my chicken right from my organic chicken farmer. Just get nervous with chicken. Thank you!
Bill says
You’re welcome Sally, I understand the 15 minutes – one should always double-check the chicken to ensure it is cooked properly. I’m sure your dinner came out even more delicious with a high quality organic chicken :)
Chris Lan says
Bill,
It needs to be steamed for much longer than 10 minutes!
I have made it several times. Wonderful taste.
Needs to be steamed for at least 30 minutes.
Bill says
Hi Chris, Thanks for that feedback! I will check my notes again and retest the recipe but it is very important that the dried mushrooms and lily flowers are soaked thoroughly. The chicken should be boneless and at room temperature. The steamer should be preheated and hot with water boiling also! In any event, it should not hurt to steam it longer––just the chicken may be slightly overcooked and a bit tougher.
Chris Lan says
Thank you for getting back to me.
I am Hakka and live in Scotland.
Would be much obliged if you could inform me of the result of your retest.
Thanks.
Chris.
Ali says
OMG this was divine, I am in total heaven. I followed the recipe to the letter, but had to use dried lily bulb. Never had them before but loved the flavour.
I did the soaking of the lily bulb and mushrooms the night before. Drained and then kept them in the fridge.
I then marinated my chicken in the morning till I was ready to cook.
I ended up using chicken thigh no skin & bone, flavour was still very rich and tasty.
Bill says
Hi Ali, glad you liked the dish and the earthy flavor of the lily bulb. Your description stirs up a craving in me to make this dish for dinner tomorrow :-)
Jack says
This is a great recipe and works as promised — like all the recipes on this website that i have tried. I had tried to make this dish several times before based on recipes from others but it never came out quite right. This recipe however works perfectly. I expect this will become a standard dish in our home because it is very tasty, easy, quick and doesn’t require any exotic ingredients. Thank you!
Bill says
Hi Jack, thanks and glad you like this one. It was definitely a childhood favorite of mine!
Richard says
I just love this recipe and have made it a go-to dish when something comforting is craved. I have to agree that leaving the bone in the chicken makes for an unpleasant dining experience however leaving the bone in does seem to add a tasty flavour. When I make this dish I buy bone in chicken thighs, take the bone out myself and lay them at the bottom of the dish. After steaming I fish out the few bones and serve.
I’m getting hungry thinking and writing about this!
Thanks!
Bill says
Hi Richard, great suggestions. thanks for sharing them with us and the rest of our readers! Your comments are making me want to have this dish tonight!
Denise says
Hi Bill,
My mum would make this and steam this on a rack in the rice cooker, is this ok for this recipe as well?
Loving the these traditional and easy to make recipes!
Thanks!
Bill says
Hi Denise, I have never tried using the rice cooker as a steamer, but it sounds like it would work!
Judy says
Hi Denise, you should try it in your rice cooker. We can’t firmly approve this cooking method, because there are so many different types of rice cookers on the market. Sarah and Kaitlin have a rice cooker that makes rice less than 15 minutes, so their rice cooker is definitely not ideal to cook this dish in.
Pinky says
Hi! I do not have wood ear mushroom, what would be the best substitution. I have shiitake and white button mushroom. Thanks.
Bill says
Hi Pinky, I think shiitakes would be better for this dish. Happy cooking!
t.c.hong says
Thanks for the recipe. Steam chicken with mushrooms, wood ear. 10 minutes is not enough to fully cook the chicken. I steam for another 10 minutes. It was tasty.
Bill says
Hi TC, I generally start with a hot steamer and use a good sized plate so the chicken is only one layer deep and the ingredients are not too crowded on the plate. Definitely use your own discretion for steaming time to ensure everything, especially the chicken, is cooked through. Though I will say that cooking the chicken until it is juuuust done (and avoiding overcooking) is one of the keys to this dish!
Kathy says
Made this today! Finally stepped away from the stirfry and it was delicious! Thank you so much for your recipes. I’m so glad I found this website. It tasted almost as good as my grandma’s!
Bill says
You’re welcome Kathy and glad you enjoyed it!
Sophia says
Hey there!
I don’t have a steamer at home – do you think this can be braised over the stove in a wok instead? If so, do you think the ingredients should be cooked separately in the wok or just cooked all at once?
Thanks!
Bill says
Hi Sophia, braising this dish will change the texture and the flavors. The method of steaming is what makes this dish unique. See our cooking tools page for steaming racks to use with your wok or use three bamboo chopsticks placed across the wok, and set the dish on top of them for steaming. Happy cooking!