I ended up cooking for a few friends last weekend but I was a little late getting everything plated so didn’t have enough time to get any pictures in of that. But there was something new I tried making and I’ll be definitely making it again soon. Just a little hint but it uses long hot peppers, something I definitely don’t use very often.
Aside from that, chicken’s been on sale lately so I took the opportunity to stock up for the next few weeks. Not to mention try a bunch of new dishes in the meanwhile!
One thing that’s always interested me about Asian cooking is that there are a bunch of staple sauces that always seem to be mixed together to generate flavor, rather than different herbs and spices (though there’s tons of different spices too!). I’ve got roughly a dozen different bottles of sauce which I use to varying degrees with some sugar and corn starch and for the most part, that’s that! Just running them off : 2 different soy sauces, oyster sauce, sesame oil, hoisin sauce, a couple bean pastes, mirin, rice wine, sriracha…I think that’s all of them!
But anyway, I got my hands on some sichuan peppercorns recently. Never really used these before but I hear they’re pretty essential in some Northern Chinese cooking. So after roasting a few, and grinding them up, I was ready to go.
This recipe was adapted from Grace Young’s Breath of a Wok.
Sichuan Peppercorn Chicken
Serves 4
Time 20 minutes
Ingredients:
– 1 lb Boneless chicken thighs, cubed
– 1 tbsp canola oil
– 8-12 dried red chilies
– 1 tsp grated ginger
– 2 garlic cloves, minced
– 1/2 tsp ground sichuan peppercorns
– 1 scallion, chopped
Marinade:
– 1 tsp ShaoHsing rice wine
– 1 tsp cornstarch
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
Sauce:
– 1 tsp dark soy sauce
– 1 tbsp ChinKiang/Balsamic vinegar
– 2 tsp sesame oil
– 1 tsp sugar
– 1/2 tsp Chili sesame oil
– 2 tbsp water or chicken broth
– 2 tsp rice wine
– 1/2 tsp salt
Method:
1. Combine marinade with chicken and set aside. Combine the sauce.
2. Add oil to a wok over high heat, add chilies, then add the chicken. Let cook undisturbed for a minute, then stir fry for 1-2 minutes to velvet the chicken. Remove and set aside.
3. Add ginger, garlic, ground pepper, and scallion to the heated wok. Quickly stir fry for a few seconds, then add the chicken back in. Add the sauce in as well, stir fry another minute or so. Remove the chilies and serve.