Chinese Confinement Recipes: Steamed Chicken Leg

Chinese Confinement Recipes: Steamed Chicken Leg

• May 14, 2021

Confinement Recipes for Week 1-3

For the first few weeks right after giving birth, confinement food is very basic and focuses on food that is easy to digest and avoids a lot of food and condiments that is believed to affect healing of the wounds. If it's a natural birth, follow this for 2 weeks and for caesareans follow for 3 weeks. They generally follow these rules.

1) Meals need to be mainly steamed, low in salt and low in oil

2) Avoid soya sauce, eggs, beef to help with scar healing

3) Avoid cold or raw foods to stop 'wind' from entering the body

4) Stick to chicken, pork and fish as the protein element of the meals

5) Whilst bleeding is still happening down below, do not eat ginger, red dates or red beans as they are foods that help with blood circulation and replenishment 

Steamed chicken legs are juicy and succulent and was one of my favourites to eat during my confinement. I had this as a complete meal with rice, plus lotus root and peanuts that were leftover from making Chinese soup. Again, a dollop of oyster sauce to dip really completed this meal for me.  

Ingredients:

2 chicken legs

4 spring onions

4 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp ground white pepper

1/2 tsp oyster sauce

Directions:
1) Rinse chicken legs and pat dry with paper towels
2) Slice spring onions finely and mince the garlic cloves
3) Rub salt, sugar, white pepper and oyster sauce on the chicken legs and place on a plate or dish for steaming
4) Sprinkle the spring onion and garlic on top of the chicken
5) Boil a pan of water with a steam rack or use an electric steamer. Steam for 20 minutes on high heat until cooked through 
6) Serve with rice and plain steamed veggies. The lotus root and peanuts in the picture were leftover from making soup

Take a look at all my other confinement recipes