cook

Three-cup chicken

This Taiwanese recipe uses 1 cup of soy sauce, 1 cup of sesame oil and 1 cup of rice wine. You can vary the amounts, but the final stir-fry should be slightly sticky.
From Ching-He Huang
Serves 2–4 to share

1 tablespoon groundnut (peanut) oil
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2.5cm/1 inch piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and sliced
500g/1lb 2oz chicken thighs and drumsticks, skinned and each piece halved on the bone
50ml/2fl oz light soy sauce
50ml/2fl oz toasted sesame oil
50ml/2fl oz Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 small handful of Chinese basil leaves, or Thai or Italian sweet basil, plus extra to garnish
1 medium red chilli, deseeded and cut into strips (optional)
steamed jasmine rice to serve

Heat a wok over a high heat and add the groundnut oil. When the oil starts to smoke, add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry quickly for a few seconds. Then add the chicken and stir-fry for 2–3 minutes until it has browned.

Add the soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine or sherry, and cook on a medium heat for 6 minutes. Stir well and add the sugar.

Bring the contents to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for about 5 minutes until the sauce is reduced completely and the chicken is cooked. Turn off the heat. Stir in the basil leaves and leave to wilt slightly.

Pour onto a plate, garnish with chilli strips and more basil leaves and serve immediately with jasmine rice.

Ching’s Tip: Since you want a dry stir-fry here, it’s important to use toasted sesame oil, which will reduce as it cooks, and not pure sesame oil, which will just keep on cooking and not reduce.

Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional Copyright © 2009 Hazelnet & Styleshout Valid CSS!