Steamed Chicken with D.O.M Liquor

I'm glad to receive advise from colleagues and friends about pregnancy, child care and even recovery after labor. I realize that different cultures have different types of confinement. My Chinese friends would tell me that during the first month, I would have to really take good care of my body. Chinese confinement involves chicken, ginger, chicken, ginger and more chicken and ginger... Which I don't really mind, since I love chicken and ginger.

I was also advised to refrain from touching water, in the sense that I can only bathe once a day and maybe 3 times a week or alternate days, not everyday. Also, If I do bathe, the water must be warm... and if possible boil the water with ginger, and use that to bathe.

When it comes to food, they have herbs... and of course chicken essence to take, to help in recovery of the body after giving birth. I was told that I should also take at least a small cup of Benedictine D.O.M. I didn't know about this until my friend told me and my colleague gave me a bottle today.

She also told me about this recipe which would really be good for me during the time of my recovery. I quickly looked it up in the internet and found the recipe.

It's Steamed Chicken with D.O.M Liquor.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
(Serves 2)
- 2 large chicken thighs (I leave the skin on, but trim the excess fats around it)
- 3 tbsp DOM (D.O.M) Benedictine liquor (法国廊酒)
- 1 tbsp ginger juice (grate the ginger, take the ginger pulp and squeeze out the juice)
- 5 tbsp water/stock (I use clear chinese soup which I cooked that day)
- 1 tbsp wolfberries
- 10 red dates
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
- 10 shitake mushrooms, stems removed and then sliced thinly
- spring onions, sliced thinly to wispy strips (to garnish, optional)

Directions
1. Place the chicken thighs into a wide and deep plate. Line the bottom of the vessel with sliced mushrooms, reserving some to top the chicken.
2. Add in ginger juice, D.O.M, water/stock, sesame oil, wolfberries, red dates and the rest of the sliced mushrooms.
3. Cover the vessel with a lid or seal tightly with aluminium foil and cook the chicken on high heat until the water at the steamer is boiling.
4. Lower down the heat and continue to cook for about 40-50 minutes.
5. Season the soup with some salt if you like. I didn’t do that since I am using Chinese soup for the stock. Use a spoon to drizzle some soup onto the chicken. Garnish with spring onions. Serve with warm rice.

Notes:
- The original recipe calls for the chicken to be double boiled. If you prefer this method, place the chicken and ingredients in the double boiler pot and filled the outer pot with water (not covering more than half of the inner pot)). After cooking, arrange the contents into a bowl/plate.
- Whether you steam or double boil, the important thing is to seal the vessel you are using so as not to lose the aroma and soup due to evaporation.
- To test if the chicken is cooked, insert a fork in the thigh area. If clear liquid (no blood) runs out, it is cooked.

Actually, even before I was pregnant, I love Herbal Chicken soups. There's something about the herbs that I love, especially the dates and the wolfberries.

This is something that I would love during my confinement... and of course spending time with my new baby boy. Just seeing him, would really help me in my recovery.