Matsutake Chicken

The matsutake mushroom has a delicious, unique flavor. I'm not prepared to describe it, other than yummy. Anyway, those of you lucky enough to live on the west coast can sometimes find it fresh. The rest of us have to make do with dried. That's okay, the dried mushroom retains a lot of its flavor, and you get some good broth to boot, and even if you can't find dried matsus at your store, you can get it online (and it's worth it at least once, trust me). This recipe is something I whipped together myself in order to showcase the taste of the mushroom. I'm sure it would be good in a lot of other recipes, but this one is a little treat for the two of us whenever I get some dried matsus.

Ingredients

• 1 oz dried matsutake mushrooms
• 1lb chicken parts, cut up (I use thighs, personally)
• 1 onion, chopped
  
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1T fish sauce
• 1T soy sauce
• 1t five-spice powder

Preparation

Boil 2c water, pour over the mushrooms, let them sit for 30-60 minutes. Fish out the mushrooms, keep them aside. Strain the soaking water (I use a coffee filter) to get the grit out, into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes, until reduced to about 1/2c. Add soy sauce, fish sauce, and five-spice powder. Simmer for another 3 minutes, until the fish sauce doesn't smell so funky. Return the matsutakes to the sauce, remove from heat.

Stir-fry up the onions, garlic, and chicken over very high heat. In the last minute of the stirfry, mix in the sauce. Serve over white rice.

This is a pretty basic stirfry, feel free to mix in some other ingredients such as green beans, carrots, or even thinly-sliced sunchokes. I also sometimes add in 4-8 oz of more pedestrian mushrooms, such as shiitake or crimini.