Xinjiang Big Plate Chicken

Ingredients

• chicken from two drumsticks1 kg
• potato2 pieces
• scallion100 g
• one each of green and sweet pepper50 g
• sugar20 g
• dried thin chili5 pieces
• garlic4 pieces
• oil50 g

Directions

1. 1

   Chop the chicken into chunks, soak it in water with salt for five minutes to draw out the blood and remove any gaminess, then drain it dry.

2. 2

   Wash the scallion, garlic, chili and potato, and peel the potato.

3. 3

   Cut the scallion white into long four-centimeter lengths and cut the green and sweet peppers into chunks.

4. 4

   Cut the potato in rolling cuts, one slice with a turn of the knife each time, so each piece is roughly four by four centimeters.

5. 5

   Make the caramel: heat the oil in the wok, add the white sugar and stir back and forth until it melts, then cook it to a deep golden color. At that point add the drained chicken and stir-fry to color it.

6. 6

   Add the Sichuan peppercorn, bay leaf, tsaoko, dried thin chili and stir-fry.

7. 7

   Add five grams of salt, seven milliliters of light soy sauce, ten grams of oyster sauce and one hundred grams of cooking wine, then pour in one liter of water; beer can be used instead of the cooking wine.

8. 8

   Turn the heat to medium, bring it to a boil, then drop to medium-low and simmer.

9. 9

   When the liquid has reduced so the chicken is just showing, lay the potato on top of the pan. Do not stir it in, just let it sit on the surface, or it will fall to the bottom and catch. Cover and cook, and after a while add the scallion, green pepper and sweet pepper and carry on.

10. 10

    When the sauce has reduced further, turn the contents over so the potato takes up the liquid, then turn off the heat and serve.