Chicken feet are served as part of a dimsum platter. I do miss this, especially that we haven’t dined in Chinese restaurants for more than a year now. So I made my own. This Chinese-style chicken feet recipe can easily be done at home, is affordable, and very flavorful. This is a bow to my Filipino-Chinese heritage. Read more.

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Chicken Feet as Dimsum

If I remember correctly, chicken feet were not sold in markets when I was younger. Not sure if they were thrown away or just cooked as food for the dogs, but I think they were not sold as chicken parts.

Eventually, however, they were offered as part of the Bacolod chicken inasal fare and were called ‘adidas’. It is a catchy pun for the famous international rubber shoe brand. Since then, chicken feet became in demand and their price increased as well.

While I was only exposed to chicken feet as adidas, I didn’t know that it was actually served as dimsum in Chinese cuisine. They like it sweet and spicy plus a little saucy.

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Chinese-Style Chicken Feet Recipe

You can easily recreate this Chinese-style chicken feet recipe at home with simple ingredients. This can be pulutan, appetizer, or a budget meal to make ends meet, especially if payday is still far away. For P100/kilo, this can already feed many people.

This dish is so aromatic and an upgrade from your usual chicken adobo. If you have kids who do not like this dish spicy, you will have to reduce the heat.

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Ingredients:

• 1 kilo chicken feet, toes removed, then blanched in salted water
• Salt, pepper, soy sauce, and cooking oil for frying
• 1 head garlic, crushed
• 1 onion sliced
• Thumb-sized ginger, sliced
• 2 pcs. Star anise
• 1/4 cup Chinese cooking wine
• 3 Tbsps. soy sauce
• 3 Tbsps. catsup
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• Chinese-style chili sauce or chili-garlic sauce used in siomai dips
• Green onions sliced into 1-inch lengths
• Chili pepper
• Celery, optional
• 1.5 cups water

Procedure:

• Drain the chicken feet after blanching to remove excess water.

• Season with a little soy sauce, some salt, and pepper. Heat oil and deep-fry the chicken feet until a bit brown. Drain.

• Transfer the fried chicken feet to a different pot or skillet. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring them to a boil.

• After letting it boil for a few minutes, adjust the seasonings then let it cook until the liquid has been reduced and the flesh part is almost falling off the bones. If your mixture is starting to dry up and the chicken feet are not yet tender, add more hot water and season.

This chicken feet recipe is best served hot and eaten with steamed white rice.

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