Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking (18 page)

EVERYDAY STIR-FRIED CHICKEN
XIAO JIAN JI
小煎雞

This simple but extremely delicious supper dish uses the
xiao chao
(“small stir-fry”) method that is typical of the Sichuanese home kitchen, which is to say that all the ingredients are added to the wok in sequence, so the cooking takes a matter of minutes. Serve it with rice and a couple of stir-fried vegetables and you have an easy but satisfying meal for three or four.

Most Chinese people would use thigh meat in this dish because of its superior flavor, but you can use breast if you prefer. And you can also vary the vegetables as you please: sliced mushrooms or peppers, or a small handful of soaked cloud ear mushrooms, would all work very well. Another popular Sichuanese dish, pork slices with black wood ear mushrooms (
mu’er rou pian
), uses the same method: just substitute sliced pork for the chicken and wood ear for the cucumber.

2 boneless chicken thighs, with or without skin (8 oz/225g)

Small section of cucumber (1½–2 in/4–5cm will do)

⅔ celery stick

1 garlic clove

An equivalent amount of ginger

1 spring onion, white part only

1 fresh red chilli, or Sichuan pickled red chilli

3 tbsp cooking oil

For the marinade

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp potato flour

1 tsp Shaoxing wine

1 tsp light soy sauce

For the sauce

¼ tsp sugar

½ tsp potato flour

1 tsp Shaoxing wine

2 tsp light soy sauce

½ tsp Chinkiang vinegar

1 tbsp chicken stock or water

Lay the chicken thighs out on a chopping board. Whack them up and down with the back of your knife to tenderize them, then cut into ⅛ in (½ cm) slices along the grain of the meat. Place in a small bowl. Add the marinade ingredients along with 2 tsp water and mix well.

Cut the piece of cucumber in half lengthways and discard the seeds. Then cut lengthways into ⅛ in (½ cm) strips. De-string the celery and cut into strips to match the cucumber. Peel and thinly slice the garlic and ginger. Cut the spring onion white and chilli on the diagonal into thin “horse-ear” slices. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

Heat the oil in a seasoned wok over a high flame. Add the chicken and stir-fry briskly. When the pieces have separated, add the garlic, ginger, spring onion and chilli and stir-fry until you can smell their fragrance and the chicken is almost cooked but still a little pink. Add the cucumber and celery and stir-fry until they are piping hot.

Give the sauce a stir, pour it into the center of the wok and stir quickly as it thickens and clothes the pieces of chicken. Serve.

BRAISED CHICKEN WITH DRIED SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS
XIANG GU SHAO JI
香菇燒雞

If you are cooking a Chinese supper for several people, it’s always helpful to include a slow-cooked dish such as this, that can be prepared in advance and just heated up when you wish to eat it. (Simply follow the recipe until it has been simmered for 30 minutes beforehand, then reheat, reduce and scatter with spring onions and sesame oil when you wish to serve.)

Serve this smokily delicious stew with a cold appetizer or two and a couple of stir-fried vegetables and you’ll have a wonderful meal for four people.

8 dried shiitake mushrooms

4 boneless chicken thighs (about ¾ lb/350g)

2 spring onions

2 tbsp cooking oil

½ oz (20g) ginger, peeled and sliced

2 tbsp Shaoxing wine

About ¾ cup (200ml) chicken stock or water

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp dark soy sauce

Salt

1 tsp sesame oil

Set the dried mushrooms to soak in hot water from the kettle for at least 30 minutes. Cut the soaked mushrooms into quarters, reserving their soaking water. Cut the chicken into pieces of a similar size to the mushrooms. Cut the spring onions into 2 in (5cm) sections and separate the white and green parts. Crush the white parts slightly with the side of a cleaver or a heavy object.

Add the oil to a seasoned wok over a high flame, swirl it around, then add the chicken and stir-fry for a few minutes until the pieces are lightly browned. If you like, pour off any excess oil at this stage (keep it for stir-frying vegetables, to which it will add a lovely umami flavor). When the chicken is nearly done, add the ginger and spring onion whites and allow the hot oil to release their fragrances.

Add the Shaoxing wine, stir a few times, then add the mushrooms, mushroom soaking water and enough stock or water to make up about 1 cup plus 2 tbsp (300ml). Add the sugar, soy sauce, and salt to taste.

Bring to a boil, skim if necessary, then cover the wok, reduce the heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time. (I usually transfer the mixture from a wok to a saucepan for the simmering, so that the wok can be freed up for cooking other dishes.)

Remove the lid, increase the heat and reduce the liquid to thicken the sauce. Adjust the seasoning, add the spring onion greens and sesame oil and serve.

GENERAL TSO’S CHICKEN
ZUO ZONG TANG JI
左宗棠雞

Deep-frying is a method I prefer to avoid for everyday cooking, but this is one of the dishes for which I make an exception. When served, it tends to provoke that moment of rapt, intense silence at the dinner table that is one of the tokens of true appreciation. Slices of chicken thigh meat are first deep-fried in a light batter, then tossed in a sophisticated sweet-sour sauce laced with chilli. General Tso’s chicken is supposedly a Hunanese dish, but it’s virtually unknown in Hunan Province. It was actually invented by Peng Chang-Kuei, a Hunanese exile chef in Taiwan, and cooked by him in his one-time New York restaurant. It has since been taken so much to the heart of Americans living in the northeast that it is now known as the very essence and emblem of Hunanese cuisine. This version of the dish is based on the recipe I learned in Peng Chang-Kuei’s kitchen in Taipei.

The dish is usually made with boned chicken leg meat, although you can use breast if you prefer. Do make sure your wok is stable before using it for deep-frying: it’s important to use a wok stand with a round-bottomed wok.

4 boneless chicken thighs (about ¾ lb/350g)

6–10 small dried red chillies

Cooking oil, for deep-frying

2 tsp finely chopped ginger

2 tsp finely chopped garlic

2 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp thinly sliced spring onion greens (optional)

For the marinade/batter

2 tsp light soy sauce

½ tsp dark soy sauce

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp potato flour

2 tsp cooking oil

For the sauce

1 tbsp tomato purée mixed with 1 tbsp water

½ tsp potato flour

½ tsp dark soy sauce

1½ tsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp rice vinegar

3 tbsp chicken stock or water

Unfold the chicken thighs and lay them, skin side down, on a chopping board. (If some parts are very thick, lay your knife flat and slice them across in half, parallel to the board.) Use a sharp knife to make a few shallow criss-cross cuts into the meat; this will help the flavors to penetrate. Then cut each thigh into 1½–1¾ in (3–4cm) slices, an uneven ⅛ in (½ cm) or so in thickness. Place the slices in a bowl.

For the marinade, add the soy sauces and egg yolk to the chicken and mix well. Then stir in the potato flour, and lastly the oil. Set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.

Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Use a pair of scissors to snip the chillies into ¾ in (2cm) sections, discarding seeds as far as possible.

Heat a wok over a high flame. Pour in the deep-frying oil and heat to 350–400°F (180–200°C). Add the chicken and fry until crisp and golden. (If you are deep-frying in a wok with a relatively small volume of oil, fry the chicken in a couple of batches.) Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and set aside. Pour the oil into a heatproof container and clean the wok if necessary.

Return the wok to a high flame. Add 2–3 tbsp cooking oil and the chillies and stir-fry briefly until they are fragrant and just changing color (do not burn them). Toss in the ginger and garlic and stir-fry for a few seconds more, until you can smell their aromas. Then add the sauce and stir as it thickens. Return the chicken to the wok and stir vigorously to coat the pieces in sauce. Stir in the sesame oil, then serve, with a scattering of spring onion greens if desired.

BRAISED CHICKEN WITH CHESTNUTS
BAN LI SHAO JI
板栗燒雞

Chestnuts are one of China’s native crops and have been cultivated there for millennia. They are grown in many parts of the country, but particularly in the north, where they are used in soups, stews and stir-fries, or ground into flour for breads and sweetmeats. Chicken and chestnuts are a classic Chinese combination.

One September morning, I drove out with my friend A Dai into the Zhejiang countryside, through a lush greenness of paddy fields, bamboo groves and lotus ponds, into the tea-bushed hills. Up a rough track we left the van and walked out into the twittering, humming undergrowth. A little further and there was an orchard of chestnut trees, where we plucked the prickly fruits and peeled open and ate, raw, some of the crunchy young nuts. Later, back at A Dai’s restaurant, we tasted more of them, stir-fried with ginger and the meat of a young chicken, a tender dish that can only be enjoyed early in the chestnut season. When the nuts are plumper and more mature, they find their way into braises such as this, perfect for a winter’s evening. In China, this would be made with a whole chicken, chopped up on the bone, but this quick version is made with boneless meat. Prepare it in advance if you like and reheat just in time for your meal.

4 boneless chicken thighs (about ¾ lb/350g)

½ oz (20g) ginger, unpeeled

2 spring onions, white and green parts separated

3 tbsp cooking oil

1½ tbsp Shaoxing wine

1 cup plus 2 tbsp (300ml) chicken stock or water

1 tbsp brown or sugar

1½ tsp dark soy sauce

7 oz (200g) cooked, peeled chestnuts (canned or vacuum-packed)

Salt

Cut the chicken evenly into bite-sized chunks. Crush the ginger and spring onion whites slightly with the side of a cleaver or a rolling pin. Cut the spring onion greens into neat 1¾ in (4cm) lengths.

Heat the oil in a seasoned wok over a high flame. When it is hot, add the ginger and spring onion whites and stir-fry until you can smell their fragrance. Then add the chicken pieces and fry over a high heat until they are lightly browned: don’t move them around too much, but let them rest against the base of the wok so they have the chance to take on a little color. Drain off some of the excess fat at this stage if you wish. Splash in the Shaoxing wine and stir well. Then add all the stock.

Bring the stock to a boil and add the sugar, soy sauce and chestnuts, with salt to taste (¾ tsp should do). Then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes to allow the chicken to cook through and the chestnuts to absorb some of the flavors of the sauce, stirring from time to time.

Increase the heat to reduce the liquid if you wish and adjust the seasoning if necessary. At the last minute, add the spring onion greens, cover for just a moment to let them feel the heat, then serve.