Chicken Stewed with Mushrooms 小鸡炖蘑菇
Chicken Stewed with Mushrooms is featured among the local specialties of Heilongjiang.
Chicken Stewed with Mushrooms (小鸡炖蘑菇) is a Northeast Chinese stew of chicken and hazel mushrooms (榛蘑), a mushroom local to the Northeast, and Chinese Wikipedia gives the Northeast as the place where it began.
How it is made
In its most basic form the chicken is first stir-fried with spring onion and ginger. Water is then added and brought to the boil, and the mushrooms go in last and stew until done. Potatoes or starch noodles (粉条) can be added to taste.
The Northeast-cuisine article describes the bird as shanji (山鸡, literally 'mountain chicken') stewed together with hazel mushrooms, a Northeast speciality, and calls the result fresh and savoury.
Where it comes from
Chinese Wikipedia counts the dish among the Northeast dishes that came from Manchu (满族), Xibe (锡伯族) and Mongol cooking, together with white pork with blood sausage (白肉血肠) and sticky bean buns (粘豆包).
Chinese Wikipedia notes that there are many stories about its origin, and that by the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (乾隆) of the Qing dynasty at the latest a dish named koumo feiji reguo (口蘑肥鸡热锅, 'hot pot of koumo mushrooms and fat chicken') appeared on the emperor's menus.
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Chicken Stewed with Hazel Mushrooms 小鸡炖榛蘑 →
The same stew under the name that specifies the hazel mushroom; that page describes the mushroom itself and its cultivation in Heilongjiang.
