Red-Braised Chicken

Name: Red-Braised Chicken
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: Chicken thigh; Shaoxing wine; Light soy sauce; Caster sugar; Fresh ginger; Star anise; Spring onions

Red-Braised Chicken, plated as one serving.

313 kcal a serving, against 576 for the traditional version. That is 263 kcal off, or 46%, with 41.2g of protein. Serves 6. 45 minutes.

What the traditional version is

Chunks of skin-on chicken, often left on the bone, fried in oil until deeply golden. They are then slowly braised in a heavy mixture of soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and a large mound of melted rock sugar until the liquid reduces down to a thick, fatty syrup.

What changed, and what each change costs

1200g of skin-on chicken thighs for skinless thighs

Chicken skin renders a massive amount of fat straight into the braising liquid as it cooks. Pulling it off leaves the lean muscle, keeping the protein high while stripping out the heavy grease.

What it costs you. You miss out on the gelatinous, melt-in-the-mouth texture that braised skin provides. The sauce is noticeably thinner without that rendered fat.

60g of sugar down to 30g

Cutting the sugar by 50% removes empty calories while still providing just enough sweetness to balance the salty soy sauce and harsh alcohol.

What it costs you. What you've got is a looser broth. A sticky glaze anymore is a different dish and you know where to find it. You won't get that classic glossy sheen on the meat, and it won't coat the back of a spoon.

Frying the chicken in 30g of oil for a dry sear in a hot pan

Skinless thighs don't need extra oil to brown if you use a blazing hot non-stick frying pan. It saves unnecessary fat before the braise even begins.

What it costs you. The chicken won't develop the deep, fried crust that helps the sauce cling tightly to the meat.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Chicken thigh
Shaoxing wine
Light soy sauce
Caster sugar
Fresh ginger
Star anise
Spring onions

How it starts

Slice each skinless chicken thigh in half.
Place a large, dry frying pan over a high heat.
Throw the ginger, star anise and the white parts of the spring onions into the pan.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Chinese.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	576	313
Protein	34.9g	41.2g
Fat	38.5g	8.5g
Saturated fat	9.6g	2.2g
Carbohydrate	14.4g	8.9g
Protein per 100 kcal	6.1g	13.2g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Chinese prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. gluten, soybeans, sulphites.

The method is in the book

This braise proves you don't need a heavy layer of fat to carry big flavour. The soy sauce and star anise penetrate right into the skinless meat, giving you an incredibly savoury, fragrant dish. You trade the thick, syrupy takeaway texture for a broth that you can actually drink without feeling sick. I think that's a fair deal for a massive plate of protein.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Chinese, along with 55 more. Buy the paperback