China · Sichuan

Mouth-Watering Chicken

Name: Mouth-Watering Chicken
Prep time: 14 min
Cook time: 32 min
Total time: 46 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Sichuan
Ingredients: cooking oil 20 ml; half a chicken 500 g; chili powder 20 g; Sichuan peppercorn 30 pieces; peanuts 10 pieces; scallion 2 pieces; ginger 20 g; garlic 2 pieces; sugar 5 g; light soy sauce 5 ml; vinegar 5 ml; MSG 5 g; ground Sichuan pepper 5 g; cilantro 5 g

Poached chicken chilled in ice water and drenched in homemade red chili oil, numbing and savory, served cold with crushed peanuts and cilantro.

46 minutes · 4 servings · Moderate

The name means mouth-watering chicken, and it earned the name: a bird slicked with red chili oil that makes you reach for another piece. It anchors a Sichuan cold spread and is always among the first dishes to reach the table. The plunge into ice water after poaching is what gives the flesh its springy bite.

Ingredients

cooking oil20 ml
half a chicken500 g
chili powder20 g
Sichuan peppercorn30 pieces
peanuts10 pieces
scallion2 pieces
ginger20 g
garlic2 pieces
sugar5 g
light soy sauce5 ml
vinegar5 ml
MSG5 g
ground Sichuan pepper5 g
cilantro5 g

Directions

1
Slice the ginger and set aside along with one scallion and fifteen peppercorns.
2
Rinse the chicken, put it in a pot and cover with cold water; add the ginger slices, scallion and peppercorns, and bring to a boil over high heat.
3
Once boiling, drop to medium-low heat, cook for twenty minutes, then turn off the heat.
4
Take out the chicken and plunge it into ice water until thoroughly chilled.
5
Take the chicken out and cut it into pieces, arrange on a plate and set aside.
6
Heat a small pan and toast the peanuts until the skins split, stirring constantly so they do not scorch.
7
Cut the scallion into lengths, smash the garlic to a paste, measure fifteen peppercorns, and skin and crush the peanuts.
8
Heat the oil in the pan, add the scallion lengths, peppercorns and half the garlic, and fry until fragrant.
9
Fry until the oil is very hot, turn off the heat and strain out the hot oil.
10
Pour the hot oil into a bowl of chili powder, stir, and strain out the red oil.
11
Into the red oil add the remaining garlic, light soy sauce, vinegar, salt, MSG, sugar, sesame oil and ground Sichuan pepper. Mix, and leave to cool.
12
Scatter the crushed peanuts over the chicken, pour the red oil over the sliced chicken, top with cilantro and serve.

Source: HowToCook · WorldBite adaptation · Unlicense source text; bilingual recipe adapted by WorldBite.