An Asian Way with Polish Chanterelle Mushrooms

I’ve been loving the summer season of Chanterelle mushrooms here in Warsaw!

Of course, I buy my Polish kurki at Hala Mirowska.

However, sometimes I get in a rut of how to cook these delicious, golden mushrooms known as kurek, kurki or kurka in Polish. The traditional Polish recipes often feature a lot of heavy ingredients like cream and butter. I wanted a healthier option.

Amongst my vast cookbook collection, I stumbled upon a 2011 August edition of Saveur Magazine that featured several recipes for different types of mushrooms. I decided to adapt Saveur’s recipe for a special Chinese dish called Jiyou Jun Bao Ji (Clay-Pot Chicken Stew with Chanterelles). I love Asian flavors and this recipe was just the inspiration I needed!

Instead of a clay pot, I used my trusty Le Creuset Dutch oven, but I’m sure any large cooking pot would work as well for cooking this scrumptious stew.

This dish is full of the rich Asian flavors of ginger, soy sauce, chilies and sesame oil that we both enjoy at home. Luckily, hubby is not picky and pretty much enjoys whatever I cook for us.

If you enjoy Asian flavors like us and find a batch of Chanterelle mushrooms at your local market, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this recipe too!

Smacznego!

All the fresh ingredients ready to go.

My finished dish of Asian-Inspired Chicken Stew with Polish Chanterelle Mushrooms.

Asian-Inspired Chicken Stew with Polish Chanterelles

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

500      g.                     Chanterelle mushrooms/mixed mushrooms, cleaned and trimmed in half if large

200      g.                     ham (I used Polish baleron), chopped small

1          Tablespoon      ginger, minced

1          Tablespoon      garlic, minced

1          Tablespoon      soy sauce

1          ea.                    jalapeno or Serrano chili, sliced in half

4          ea.                    green onions, cut in 1-inch pieces

4          tsp.                  granulated sugar

1          ea.                    large onion, chopped small

500      ml.                   chicken stock

1          kilo                  chicken legs and thighs

Optional:         4, small bok choy, sliced down the center, and chopped into 2-inch pieces

Cooked rice or brown rice vermicelli noodles for serving.

Dipping sauce:

4          Tablespoons    soy sauce

1          Tablespoon      cilantro, finely chopped

2          teaspoon          toasted sesame oil

2          teaspoon          ginger, finely minced

¼         teaspoon          ground black pepper

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the dipping sauce ingredients and set aside.

2. In a large Dutch oven  or pot, place all the stew ingredients. Bring to a boil. Cover, and reduce heat to medium-low so stew is just simmering. Cook for about 30 minutes.

3. Then, add the bok choy. Let the stew cook for another 10 minutes until the chicken is tender and cooked through.

4. Serve the stew over rice or noodles. Drizzle the dipping sauce over the top, at least that’s how we did it.

5. This stew works great as leftovers, but you might want to add a bit more chicken stock when reheating it.