Ka Chang Ma

Today is Sunday and as usual, it's a cooking day for me. I try to whip up a dish that would last a few days so that Adrian doesn't have to do heavy cooking on week days. Since I come home late most days due to the long commute from NYC, Adrian would have to put on his "Top Chef" hat in the evenings. I am lucky to have a very capable chef at home :)

Ka Chang Ma is one of those dishes that keeps well. It is a traditional Chinese chicken herb dish served to women post pregnancy and very common in my hometown. The herb is Chinese motherwort or its scientific name - leonurus sibiricus, and honestly, it's not easy to eat. As a young girl, I never liked it. I would scrape the herbs of the chicken before eating ka chang ma. Why would anyone eat something that smell vile and reek with alcohol?! The latter might be an incentive to revisit the dish every now and then... lols! Well, I've come a long way and have acquired the taste of ka chang ma. Since its days as a post-natal dish, folks have started eating ka chang ma as a regular food and has become a local delicacy in my home town.

The MAIN ingredient although also know as "Little M...." is NOT to be confused with another herb which recently became legal for medicinal purposes in NJ!

Prep chicken & fresh ginger (pounded & squeezed - save the juice for later).

Heat the herb until it's fragrant but not too brown, otherwise your dish will taste bitter.

Stir-fry ginger pulp until fragrant - set aside.

Stir-fry chicken pieces & add ginger juice.

Add the herb and ginger pulp.

My Holy Trinity of cooking wine - 2 types of rice wine & Sherry for sweetness. Amen!

Transfer to a crock-pot and cook on low for another hour until chicken becomes tender and all the herb & wine is fully infused in the meat.

VOILA!