Braised Wings with Napa Cabbage

Due to Covid-19 pandemic, our Little Red Dot is on Circuit Breaker Mode from 07 April 2020 to 04 May 2020, many companies and business have adopted the Work From Home measure as advised by our government, only those essential business will operate as usual.

My company is one of the non essential business thus I have to work from home during this month long period.  While I welcome this "break" I have a new challenges at home; a month of cooking.  After thinking it through I reckon I will skip cooking lunch because hmm... I am lazy hahaha!

Taking out lunches, I still have to think what to cook for about 30 dinner, definitely a challenge for me.  Although I think DinoPapa and DinoBoy won't mind eating repeated dishes weekly but I will feel bored cooking same dishes.  

At such times I am glad that I hoard on recipe books coz they come to good use, I flipped through them to look for some easy to prepare food and I have a few dishes that I am planning to cook in days to come.

First on the list is this dish - Braised Wings with Napa Cabbage which is an easy recipe and you can get everything done in under 30mins, it is definitely a great one pot dish too if you and your family loves chicken.  Although this dish has a recipe I gather if you have your favourite braise recipe you can simply dump all the ingredients in for braising. If you don't have braise marinade recipe, don't worry I will share one at the end of the post.

This time I took cooking to a next level by using Song Cho Magic Quick Cook Pressure Cooker to make a non pressure cooker dish (see, the laziness in me strikes lol)  

I used the cooker as a normal pot (that's the beauty of Song Cho Magic Quick Cook Pressure Cooker) to boil the napa cabbage till its slightly soft, then I added the chicken wings plus all the necessary marinating sauce and spices.

Since this is the first time I am making this dish and using pressure cooker, I miscalculate the amount of time to let the cooker boil before turning off the fire *sigh* causing the wings to overcook thus the meat are tough.  I let it cook for 5.5mins which should be shorter; using the Magic Quick Cook formula 20mins/8  = 2.5mins.  The napa cabbage however turned out super soft and sweet!

I have my secret braising recipe but decided to follow the recipe to see how it turned out. The recipe is for 8 wings but I cooked a whole 1kg packet of 20+ wings (was feeding a village lol), adding the ingredients mentally in my head to suit the larger quantity. Turned out the taste wasn't too far off and quite flavourful too. 

Do not under estimate the napa cabbage, besides being crunch and adding a unique sweetness to your dish it is full of nutrients.  It is low in calories, high on folates; which is your folic acid that help body in producing red blood cells, and Vitamin C.  It is also a natural source of electrolytes and minerals like calcium, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, iron and magnesium.  Potassium helps in regulating heart rate and blood pressure, so those with blood pressure issue can consider taking it.

During this trying time, with a lesser chance of exercise and going out for some fresh air, we have to do all the necessary to ensure we stay healthy, eat healthy and live healthy.  Start with simple dishes like this one that requires minimum preparation and cooking then venture out to others that are more challenging.

Together we can fight this Covid-19 virus and stop it from spreading further! 

Ingredient

* 8 pcs Chicken mid wings

* 1 Napa cabbage 

* 2 slices ginger

* 3 cloves of garlic

* some parsley

Braising Marinade

* 50ml dark soy sauce

* 50ml shaoxing wine

* 2 cloves

* half a thumb size rock sugar

* 250ml water

Method

1. Remove outer napa cabbage leaves, rinse and cu into big chunks. 

2. Fill a pot with water, add napa cabbage in and boil till it is soft.  Remove and set aside.

3. Add the chicken wings into the same pot and blanch it.  Remove and set aside.

4. Take another pot, add in all the ingredients except parsley.  Cover the pot, bring to boil and turn down the fire to simmer for about 20mins.

5. Plate it, add parsley and serve