Chicken With Chilies

Hey! I'm back and finally my kitchen is open again! Well, after my wonderful vacation and "TOO MUCH" of dining out, all of us really needed some home-cooked food! Ha! Ha!

This recipe requires about 50 grams of dried chilies! Don't be alarmed! It might seem a bit too much but they were just about right. They were fragrant, spicy and tasty!


Recipe adapted from Sichuan Cookery by Fuchsia Dunlop

Chicken With Chilies - la zi ji

Ingredients

2 Chicken Breasts (about 350 g)

Marinade
2 tsp Shaoxing Wine
1 tsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tsp Dark Soy Sauce
1/4 tsp Sea Salt

40-50 g Sichuanese Dried Chilies
Peanut Oil for Deep-Frying
2 Cloves Garlic, sliced and equivalent amount of fresh Ginger, sliced
1 Tbsp Whole Sichuan Peppercorn
2 Scallions, white parts only, cut each into 3 sections
Sea Salt to taste
A pinch of Sugar
2 tsp Sesame Oil

Method

Cut the chicken into 2cm cubes and put them into a small bowl. Add the marinade ingredients and mix well. Set aside for 30 minutes if possible.

Snip the chilies in half with a pair of scissors and discard as many seeds as possible.

Heat oil for deep-frying to a very high temperature. Add the chicken and fry for 4 - 5 minutes until the chicken pieces are cooked through, golden brown and a little crispy on the outside. Drain well and set aside.

Heat 3 Tbsp of oil in a wok over moderate flame. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry until they are fragrant and just taking color. Then add all the chilies and the Sichuan peppercorns and stir-fry for 10 - 20 seconds until the oil is spicy and fragrant, taking great care not to burn the chilies (remove the wok from the stove for a few seconds if the oil seems too hot). Add the chicken and spring onions and season with salt and a good pinch of sugar. Stir well so that the chicken is coated with the fragrant oil. Finally, remove from the heat, stir in the sesame oil and serve.