Saturday, September 4, 2010

Sep 4, 2010: Dry Fried Chicken

As some of you may have noticed, I've been cooking from Land of Plenty a lot this week.
The main reason, beside enjoying the recipes, is the book is borrowed from the library. I'm trying to get the most out of the book before I have to return it.

Today's recipe takes advantage of the sale of chicken breast.

Dry Fried Chicken (Ref: Fuchsia Dunlop's "Land of Plenty")
2 Stalks Celery, cut on the diagonal
1 lb Chicken, cut into 1" cubes (I used chicken breast)
3 Green Onions, cut on the diagonal
6 to 8 Dried Chile Pods
1 t Whole Sichuan Pepper
1 1/2 T Sichuan Chili Bean Paste
1 T Rice Wine
1 t Dark Soy Sauce
2 t Sesame Oil

Chicken cut into cubes... Half of the chicken was dusted with cornstarch (not shown).


2) Stir fry the chicken in 1/4 C of oil over high heat for about 5 minutes.
I had the oil leftover from the smelt cooking so I just deep fried for about 5 minutes.



The chicken and oil are drained.
Next, about 3 T of oil was heated for toasting the chile pods and Sichuan Peppers.


After about 1 minute (you can smell the fragrance), add the chicken for more cooking.
Add the Chile paste, cook about a minutes to color the pieces.


Add the wine and soy sauce and slowly cook until the chicken is glazed, about 5 more minutes (10 minutes if you didn't deep fry).


Add the veggies and cook for about 2 more minutes.


The Finished Dish...


While I was sampling during cooking, I thought to myself I should add a little sugar. However, I held back since it wasn't part of the recipe. Fortunately, I followed the recipe. I think the celery provided a little sweetness to balance the savory/unami of the soy, the slightly spicy of the chilies and the numbing/tingling of the Sichuan peppers.

The chicken was a little over cooked, but the flavors made up for the firm pieces of breast meat.

1 comment:

soyena said...

LOL, you are really cooking the chinese way these days! They look wonderful and I am glad that you are enjoining our food.