Braised Dim Sum Chicken Foot

Chicken feet, as weird as it sounds, is indeed one of the best parts of chicken. You can make a variety of snack or side dishes with chicken feet, with dim sum and pickled chicken feet as the two most famous dishes made with chicken feet.

Tiger skin chicken feet or 虎皮凤爪 and tiger skin green peppers are both Chinese dishes. They are called tiger skin because of the wrinkles on the surface.

Despite how complicated making these dishes might seem, they always have their loyal fans. To make braised dim sum chicken feet, you should follow at least three steps:

  • Boiling
  • Deep frying
  • Braising or Steaming

Of course, you can always eat this dish at dim sum restaurants but I decided to post my recipe in case you want to make it at home. I have to say after making this dish three times, I am still not happy with the texture but the taste is amazing.

Braised dim sum chicken Foot

  1. Clean the chicken feet and cut the paws and the main large bone. Cut the feet in half.
  2. Add ½ teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar to a pot of boiling water. The sugar protects the skin from breaking. Add ½ teaspoon of rice vinegar. Rice vinegar keeps the color from going dark.
  3. Cook the chicken feet for 2 minutes.
  4. Take the chicken feet out and drain well.
  5. Mix the chicken feet with 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce and let it rest for half an hour.
  6. Fill one-third of a deep frying pan with oil and heat it to 180 °C.
  7. Fry the chicken feet until golden and crispy.
  8. Soak the chicken feet in cold water for around 4 to 5 hours or overnight for the wrinkly texture and if you don’t like the wrinkly texture, soak them for only 1 hour.
  9. Make the sauce and let the fried chicken feet cook slowly in this sauce. Dim Sum Chicken Feet is often served steamed with soaked peanuts in restaurants but I prefer the braising method since it takes less time.