The flavor is savory and fresh with a clean spiciness, a subtle hint of tangy aroma, and the chicken is crispy yet tender.
Diced chicken with fresh chili peppers is another classic Sichuan dish, where the tangy aroma and mild heat of pickled chilies drive away any gamey taste from the chicken. Mix a bowl of promising sauce, pour it into a blazing hot wok sizzling with oil, and in an instant, the sauce thickens, clinging tightly to every crevice of the chicken, while red chili oil wraps around the sauce, layer by layer, locking everything in perfectly. Finally, a splash of rice vinegar reminds us that some aromas are only truly understood in the last moment.
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
2 chicken drumsticks (about 300 g / 10 oz)
Fresh chicken thigh meat will give a crispier, more tender texture.
Additional Ingredients
20 g pickled chili peppers
Fresh chili peppers and Hangzhou green chili peppers, to taste
The combination of fresh red chili peppers and Hangzhou green chili peppers is crucial; together they are called green and red chilies. If you don't have these specific varieties, any fresh chili peppers will work as a substitute.
Marinade
1 g salt
5 g (about 1 teaspoon) Shaoxing wine
egg white, a small amount
Cornstarch - a small amount
a sauce made by combining 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, and 3 tablespoons water
soy sauce 10 g (about 2 teaspoons)
10 g (about 2 teaspoons) Shaoxing wine
2 g (about 1/2 teaspoon) sugar
1 g salt
Cornstarch to taste
The key to great Sichuan cuisine lies in the sauce mixture (the pre-mixed seasoning liquid). The ratio of soy sauce to starch will vary depending on the brand of starch used, so practice a few times to find your own "soul of Sichuan cooking."
Other Seasonings
5 g rice vinegar
green onion, ginger, and garlic - each to taste
Instructions
Instructions
Preparation
Step 1: Remove the bones from chicken thighs and cut into 1.5 cm (about 1/2 inch) cubes (Image 2), then add the marinade ingredients and mix well to coat (Image 3).
*Don't cut the chicken too small, as it will shrink somewhat during cooking. When marinating the chicken, add the seasonings in the order listed.
Step 2: Finely chop the pickled chilies, cut the beauty peppers and Hangzhou peppers into small segments about 1 cm long, and slice the scallions, ginger, and garlic into small pieces (Image 4). Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
*Chop the pickled chilies as finely as possible so the red chili oil releases more easily during stir-frying and the flavor infuses fully.
When mixing the sauce in a bowl, stir until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved and any small lumps of starch have fully disappeared.
Stir-fried chicken with fresh peppers and three chili varieties
Heat the wok over high heat, add plenty of oil and heat until it reaches 60-70% hot (about 350°F/175°C), then add the chicken cubes and stir-fry vigorously over high heat to separate them, about 5 seconds (Image 5).
*Raw meat tends to stick to the pan when stir-fried directly, so it's best to coat the pan with a thin layer of oil beforehand and use a bit more oil than usual when cooking.
④ Next, add the pickled chilies and stir-fry until the oil turns red and fragrant, about 15 seconds (Image 6). Then add the fresh red chilies, green chilies, and scallion-ginger-garlic mixture, and stir-fry for another 15 seconds (Image 7).
*The bell peppers and Hangzhou peppers must be stir-fried long enough in the pan, otherwise they will have a raw, harsh spiciness instead of a fragrant, aromatic heat.
Prepare the sauce.
Pour in the prepared sauce mixture and stir-fry until the sauce evenly coats all the ingredients. Finally, add rice vinegar and remove from heat to serve (Figure 8).
*Stir the sauce mixture again before pouring it into the wok, otherwise the cornstarch will settle at the bottom.
*Add the rice vinegar at the very end so the dish has a rich, aromatic vinegar flavor; adding it earlier will cause the flavor to evaporate.
For best results, feel free to adapt this technique to other proteins like pork or shrimp.
This dish is incredibly delicious, and you can use this cooking method with other meats as well, but be sure to choose tender cuts and adjust the shape according to the ingredient's characteristics—you don't necessarily have to cut everything into cubes. For example, the most tender cuts of pork are the tenderloin and pork shoulder, which are best sliced for stir-frying, as dicing them would result in a less pleasant texture. Fresh pork kidneys can also be prepared using this method.
Cooking Notes
In traditional Sichuan cuisine, Laziji Ding (spicy chicken dices) only uses pickled chilies, but here I've borrowed from Hunan cooking by adding Hangzhou peppers and beauty peppers, which are not very spicy but have the fresh, crisp flavor of green chilies, making this dish more complex and layered in taste.