I had never thought of making the classic French dish coq au vin until I moved to China. To me it sounded too intimidating to cook. But several weeks after moving to Beijing, the shellshock of living here hadn't faded and I needed to tuck into a home-cooked meal to last me several days.

My version uses a minimal amount of ingredients since many local grocery stores don't carry a wide array of basic Western foods, and because Jenny Lou's - the supermarket geared toward expatriates - is an expensive adventure. Another reason for keeping it simple was to facilitate a quick and painless experience at a chao shi, or Chinese supermarket, which at the time had a buzz of energy dialed a bit too high for me.

To my surprise, coq au vin is not complicated and can be paired with any starch on hand, whether it be mashed potatoes, rice, bread, pasta or rice noodles. I bet the fried spongy bread in Uygur restaurants would work perfectly.

This dish essentially starts out as a stir-fry and evolves into a stew. Many home cooks believe that a roux - the cooked mixture of flour and butter used to thicken a dish - and an expensive bottle of red wine are essential, which is far from true. I had a cheap bottle of Great Wall wine sitting idle in its gift box, and it did the job. And though there is no substitute for the fragrance of a roux, making it requires good timing to keep it from quickly burning.

Instead, I coated the chicken in flour, salt and pepper before searing the meat. The coating thickens the sauce and keeps the chicken from overcooking. I also did away with herbs, such as thyme, parsley and bay leaves, that are staples of coq au vin recipes but are difficult to find in Beijing supermarkets.

One holdover from tradition, however, is chicken broth. It requires nothing more than throwing the chicken scraps into a pot of water, carrots, celery and onions and letting it simmer for about 45 minutes.

Recipe/ Kitchen aid

Coq au Great Wall red

Note: Make sure to place the bacon in a cold pan before cooking or be prepared to wear the fat. You can use oyster or shiitake mushrooms or whatever large mushrooms you like.

Ingredients

3 slices of fatty bacon, chopped coarse

Large carrot, sliced thick

8-10 large mushrooms, sliced thick

Large yellow onion, chopped coarse

Garlic clove, chopped coarse

1/2 bottle of red wine

Whole chicken (about 1.5 kg)

1/2 cup of flour

Butter

For chicken broth:

Celery stalk

Large carrot

Large onion

Chicken bones and entrails

Method

1. Cut chicken into thighs, wings and breast. Halve the breast and dust pieces in mixture of flour and ample salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. Make the broth by placing chicken scraps into a large pot. Add the onion (halved), carrot (halved) and celery stalk. Fill up with water until it brims over the pile. Cover and cook on medium-high heat for 45 minutes. Salt and pepper the broth.

3. Cook chopped bacon on low heat in a large pan. Cook until bacon is crispy. Remove bacon and set aside.

4. Turn up heat to medium. Sear thighs, wings and breast in bacon fat and a pat of butter until golden brown, 2-3 minutes per side. Remove and set aside.

5. Add carrot slices, chopped onion, mushrooms and garlic and saut until onions are just about to brown. Return chicken and bacon to pan and pour enough wine to barely cover the ingredients. Add 3-4 ladles of broth and bring to a boil.

6. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and the carrots are soft. Season with salt and pepper. Melt a tab of butter before serving.