Chicken Feet (鳳爪)

Add 4 cups of cold water to a large pot or wok. When parboiling anything with bones, like chicken feet, it’s important to start in cold water so that everything can heat evenly and we can extract all the scum that’s trapped deep inside. Add ginger (3.0 slice), green onion (1 stalk), honey (1 tbsp), and cooking wine (1 tbsp). The aromatics and cooking wine help reduce gaminess and add flavor, while the honey helps the chicken feet brown more beautifully during the frying step.

Add the chicken feet (20 oz) and bring the pot to a boil over high heat. Once it has come to a boil, lower the heat to prevent it from boiling over and cook for about 2 minutes. Take the chicken feet out. Discard the other solids and the blanching water.

Give the fermented black beans (1 oz) a quick rinse to remove any dust and debris, then soak in a small bowl of cold water so they can begin to rehydrate and soften. In a separate small bowl, rinse the peanuts (0.75 cup), then soak them in cold water.

Smash and peel the garlic (3 clove), and then cut into large chunks. Slice the ginger (6 slice) thinly, then halve into angular pieces. Peel the shallots (1 oz), then halve them. Don’t spend too much time getting these aromatics very precisely chopped; they’ll be braising in liquid and releasing flavor over a long time, so they’re fine in large chunks.

You can leave the chili peppers (3 whole) whole.

Give the peanuts one more rinse, then soak them in hot water. This will help the peanuts soften up to braise better.

Prepare your work surface with a clean, dry paper towel. You can use either kitchen shears or a knife to trim the nails from each toe of the chicken foot. Carefully cut off all of the hard nail, getting as much as you can without cutting into the skin of the chicken foot. Keep your work area tidy by ensuring the trimmed nails go into a waste bowl or other designated area. Then, set the trimmed chicken foot down on the paper towel.

We recommend doing this trimming step after blanching because if you trim the nails first, the skin tends to shrink back during the frying step, resulting in a less appealing look and texture.

Once you’ve trimmed all the chicken feet, use the paper towel to pat the chicken feet thoroughly dry. The more moisture you get off the surface now, the more oil splatter you can prevent in the following step.

Heat your wok or pot on high heat.

Add oil (12 oz) and heat until it has reached 350° F. If you don’t have a thermometer to go by, test the oil with a wooden chopstick. If you see small, rapid bubbles escaping the tip of the chopstick when you dip it in, the oil should be just about right.

While the oil is heating up, fill a medium-sized mixing bowl with ice and water. We’ll use that to shock the chicken feet once they’re done frying.

Once your oil is at temperature, place your chicken feet in and cover them with a lid to reduce splatter. We recommend that you fry the chicken feet in batches.

After 2-3 minutes, rotate and flip the chicken feet to get an even fry all over.

Remove the feet from the oil when they take on a beautiful golden-brown color. You can also tell that they are ready when the oil starts to calm down.

Immediately transfer the fried chicken feet into your bowl of cold ice water.

Leave them soaking in the cold water for 10 minutes.

While the chicken feet enjoy their cold spa moment, pour the oil out of the wok. You can reserve that oil to cook with later. You don’t need to wash or even thoroughly wipe the wok down; we’ll continue frying in there soon.

Time management tip: You can start boiling water (3 cup) now for the braising step later.

Cut each chicken foot in half to make them more bite-sized for easier eating. To cut the feet, slice your knife into the “palm” of the feet so that you see two toes on each side of the knife.

Pause before you try to get through the bone, anchoring the right spot and ensuring that your knife is angled safely straight down. Then, use your hand to press down on the back of the knife, so you have the strength and leverage to cut through the foot.

Heat your wok again on high and add in oil (1 tbsp). You can use the reserved oil from earlier.

Begin by frying the ginger for about 30 seconds, then add in the garlic, green onions, and chili peppers. Add shallots and the star anise (2 piece). Add most of the fermented black beans; reserve just a few pieces to top off your dish with later.

Carefully pour in the sauce, then fry for about 45 seconds.

Add the chicken feet in, then stir-fry thoroughly so everything is well-mixed and the chicken feet are thoroughly coated in sauce and aromatics.

Next, add the peanuts. In our video, we demonstrate layering the peanuts at the bottom of a new pot, then transferring the chicken feet and sauce over it, and continuing to cook in that new pot. The pot with straight walls keeps the water from evaporating too quickly.

However, you can stick with your cookware and just add the peanuts to the chicken feet in your original wok and mix them all in.

To the peanuts and chicken feet and sauce, wherever they are, add enough hot water (3 cup) to just barely cover all the ingredients. Bring everything to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, turn the heat down to medium.

Cover with a lid and braise on medium heat for 45 minutes.

Technically, once the chicken feet are done braising, you can dig in! But if you want to go an extra step to really replicate the restaurant experience, you can keep going.

For garnish, cut red bell pepper (0.50 oz) into small, cute slices. This will give a beautiful pop of color without any surprise heat. You can use a spicy pepper if you like.

Arrange your chicken feet, peanuts, and sauce in a heat-safe bowl for steaming. Top with your slivers of red bell pepper and reserved fermented black beans.

In a large wok with a rack or steamer, bring water to a boil. Place the chicken feet in the steamer, and steam for 10 minutes with the lid on. Enjoy!