chestnut chicken stew at danwei.org

Here is a video for Chestnut Chicken Stew from Danwei. The video is a part of a new series the website is doing called Danwei Canteen that highlights different homestyle chinese recipes. Danwei was founded by Jeremy Goldkorn, my onetime boss when I worked at the Standards Group advertising agency in Beijing. Jeremy is also the Editor-in-Chief of the website and is the interviewer in this video. Besides interesting videos, Danwei.org is the best place on the web to find daily news and gossip on advertising and media in China. It's the Gawker of China. 

The recipe in the video is for Chestnut Chicken Stew. The only time I eat chestnuts is in the winter when New York City street vendors sell little bags of hot roasted chestnuts to freezing passersby. I've never made this dish but the idea of sweet, nutty chestnuts stewed with chicken, ginger, garlic is something I have to try. The woman in the video is from Anhui province and she really knows her stuff. She even goes so far as to clean the chicken and remove the organs-- and leave some in. If you want to try making this dish but the idea of cleaning a chicken turns you off, you can use a pre-cleaned (and de-headed) chicken from any grocery store. That's what I'll be doing.

-Nate

Here's the ingredient list:

A whole chicken with skin, liver and heart
Peeled chestnuts: seven ounces (or 200 grams)
Salt: a spoonful
Five cloves of garlic 
Peanut oil: three spoonful (two for frying the spices; one for the chicken)
Soybean paste: a spoonful
Green Onion, pepper, ginger

Comments

[Kristin C]

Ewwww. I will be making this with a butterball chicken :)

[Kate]

this looks amazing! Im going to make it for my fiance, Greg! Great meeting you two at the art show- Kate!

[Mary Jo Curgis]

I love garlic and chicken. Will try it sounds better than the chicken on the ground restaurant in Spain. Mj Curtis