Taiwanese Sesame Oil Chicken Soup

December 24, 2020
Taiwanese Sesame Oil Chicken

The recipe I want to share with you today is the Taiwanese Sesame Oil Chicken Soup or Ma Yo Gi Ton in mandarin Chinese.

Ma means Sesame, yo is oil, gi is chicken and ton means soup. This is an authentic and hearty dish for Taiwanese, especially during the winter months because this dish is considered “warm” or wholesome.

This soup is often made for women who have given birth or for people who simply want to feel warmer during the cold weather. Taiwanese believe the combination of rice wine, black sesame oil and ginger will help with blood circulation so it’s perfect for cold weather.

Taiwanese Sesame Oil Chicken Soup Ingredients

Taiwanese Sesame Oil Chicken
  • 1 lb of chicken: legs, wings, drumsticks or chicken thighs with bone
  • 8 to 10 pieces of sliced ginger
  • ½ bottle of Taiwanese rice wine – michiu
  • ½ bottle of water

I like using organic chicken with bone because the meat is juicier and more flavorful but feel free to use your favorite part of the chicken.

Taiwanese Sesame Oil Chicken

The rice wine to water ratio is 1 to 1. I use half bottle of rice wine which is about 400ml. If you cannot find Rice Wine or Michiu, you can use beer instead. After 10 to 15 minutes of cooking, the alcohol will completely evaporate.

Instead of 1/2 rice wine and 1/2 water, you can also use the entire bottle of rice wine without adding water for more wine flavor.

Taiwanese Sesame Oil Chicken

Traditionally black sesame oil is used because the flavor of this oil is more intense and it’s perfect for this wholesome recipe. Black sesame oil is quite common in Asian supermarkets. However if you really cannot find this ingredient, feel free to substitute with regular sesame oil.

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Taiwanese Sesame Oil Chicken

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Taiwanese Sesame Oil Chicken Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 lb chicken , legs, wings, drumsticks or chicken thighs with bone
  • 8 - 10 slices ginger
  • 1/2 bottle Taiwanese rice wine (michiu), ~ 400ml
  • 1/2 bottle water, ~ 400ml

Method

Prepare the Ingredients

  • 1)

    Thinly slice the ginger. It’s better to leave the skin on because it gives more flavor but make sure to rinse the ginger very well before cutting

  • 2)

    Chop the chicken into smaller pieces. If you use small chicken parts like wings or legs you can skip this step. Make sure to use the bottom tip of the cleaver where there’s more force to get a clean chop.

  • 3)

    Rinse and pat dry the chicken before cooking

Cooking

  • 1)

    In a wok or pan, add 4 tbsp of black sesame oil.

  • 2)

    Add the ginger slices and fry them at low heat until the skin looks wrinkled and dried up. At this point, ginger flavor is completely infused in the sesame oil

  • 3)

    Next, add the chicken. Raise the heat to high and fry until it is no longer pink.

  • 4)

    When the chicken is no longer pink, add in ½ bottle of rice wine and ½ bottle of water. Give it a good stir.

  • 5)

    Close the lid and let it simmer between 10 to 15 minutes. Stir occasionally

  • 6)

    After 15 minutes, the chicken should be cooked thru completely. Chicken should naturally be slightly salty so I never add salt to this dish but feel free to add salt if needed. Sometimes I add dried Goji berries sparingly to add sweetness to this dish. Just add it toward the end of cooking.

Serving

  • 1)

    You can enjoy the sesame oil chicken by itself, serve it with steam rice or make noodle soup.

  • 2)

    To make the noodle soup, prepare the noodle per instruction on the package. Place noodle into your serving bowl and pour the sesame oil chicken soup over. Traditionally, a thin noodle called Misua is used but you can use any other thin noodle. Make sure to use gluten free noodle if you have gluten allergy.

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