Chicken ala King

Chicken ala king is a scrumptious chicken dish popular Philippines, where chicken peeves float in a creamy mushroom sauce made more spicy by adding spices like onion, garlic, celery etc etc. Follow our recipe and video to make this spicy Filipino dish in your home and you will find out that this the real chicken dish that will tickle our taste buds.

CHICKEN ALA KING

I tried searching for the history of chicken a la king. There were many “origins” of this recipe so we  might just focus on the present and talk about how we love this dish.

Chicken ala king makes me feel like a queen. This dish sits in the throne among the best creamy dishes I know. Actually, if you are a creamy dish and would compete with other creamy dishes, the competition would be really hard since there would only be one major flavor– creaminess. So how does chicken a la king stand out for itself?

One special thing about a la king sauces which I truly love is the mushroom sauce. My niece doesnt like mushrooms but eats them only when in chicken a la king! That’s the powurrr of a king dish!

WHAT IS A ROUX?

If you have tried making gravies and sauces in the past, it is more likely that you used a slurry to thicken it out. But did you know that you can make a thick sauce without making a slurry? And that’s what you are gonna learn in extra for this featured recipe!

If this is your first time hearing about roux (pronounced as “ru”), you will be shocked on what it can do. In this recipe, the base of the chicken ala king sauce will be the roux. A roux is a mixture of equal parts oil and flour which is heated for a few  minutes. After a while, broth (or other flavorful liquid) is added. The works of a roux is totally magical as it will really thicken the sauce out without a slurry!

HOW TO COOK CHICKEN ALA KING

Making chicken ala king is easier than you thought. This dish is composed of two components: the chicken and the creamy mushroom sauce.

In some modern chicken ala king recipes, they prepare the chicken as slices and separate from the sauce. But for me, I’d like to stick with the classic one and would like to incorporate the chicken in the sauce for better flavor absorption. So instead of a giant chunk of chicken fillet simply poured with some sauce (Oops, sounds familiar!), this recipe will use small chicken chunks which are crispy on the outside, soft and tender on the inside. Let’s start!

Cook the chicken first. In this type of recipe, the major flavor is determined with the sauce. So all we need to do with the chicken is to unleash its natural flavor. You can do this by simply seasoning them with salt and pepper and then sear to seal its juices. Once seared, set them aside and we’ll focus on the sauce for now.

As mentioned, the sauce will be the defining component of this dish. This should be seasoned and flavored well. Start by sauteing the mushrooms in butter. This will fuse the mushrooms natural flavor to the butter which will be made into a gravy sauce by adding some flour. Next, add the chicken broth (water + chicken broth cube) to intensify the chicken-y flavor. You will notice that the sauce will thicken as you cook. Before adding the cream, make sure that you lower the heat since we do not want a burnt aftertaste to it.

Once the creamy ala king sauce is done, place the chicken back to the pan and let it absorb the flavor of the sauce. Add other ingredients you like. In this recipe, I added green peas, celery and bell peppers (I added bell peppers last since they need to have slight crunch as we eat them). Of course we will make our sauce richer by adding heavy cream and egg yolk mixture. Just like how the traditional carbonara is made, egg yolks add a nice and intensified creamy flavor to our ala king sauce.

The chicken ala king is done and is ready to be devoured. Since this is a boneless and saucy dish, I usually put this dish on top of hot steaming rice in a large bowl! Yum!

Chicken ala King Recipe (TAGALOG)

Mga Sangkap:

• ½ kilo pitso ng manok (hatiin sa cubes)
• 2 pula ng itlog
• 125 ml ng all purpose cream
• 1 tasa ng gatas
• ½ chicken broth cube
• 1 tasa ng tubig
• 2 kutsara ng cornstarch
• 1 kutsara ng sibuyas (hiniwa ng sobrang liit)
• 2 butil ng bawang (hiniwa ng maliit)
• 2 bell peppers (hiniwa ng maliit)
• Celery (hiniwa ng maliliit)
• 1 lata ng green peas
• ½ tasa ng mushrooms (hiniwa)
• Asin at paminta

Paano Gawin:

1. Ihanda at hiwain ang manok at ilagay ang mga ito isang bowl. Budburan ng asin at paminta. Haluin ng mabuti. Isantabi.
2. Magpainit ng mantika. Ilagay ang sibuyas at bawang at igisa ng ilang minuto. Sunod na ilagay ang mga manok at lutuin hanggang mag iba ang kulay. Kapag light brown na ito, alisin sa kawali.
3. Sa parehas na kawali, tunawin ang butter. Ilagay ang mushrooms at igisa ng ilang minuto. Sunod na ilagay ang all purpose flour at haluin ng konti. Lagyan ng 1 tasa ng tubig at ng chicken broth cube. Haluin hanggang mawala ang lumps. Huling ilagay ang gatas at lutuin ito gamit ang mababang apoy para hindi magbuo buo.
4. Ibalik ang manok sa kawali. Hayaan itong maluto ng 1 – 2 minutes.
5. Ilagay ang green peas at celery. Haluin ng konti.
6. Sa maliit na bowl, paghaluin ang pula ng itlog, at all purpose cream. Kumuha ng onting creamy sauce at ilagay sa egg yolk mixture saka ito ilagay sa kawali.
7. Ilagay ang bell peppers. Budburan ng asin at paminta. Haluin ito at lutuin ng 1 – 2 minuto.
8. Patayin ang apoy at ilipat ang chicken ala king sa serving dish at ihain kasama ng mainit na kanin. Enjoy!