大盘鸡
大盘鸡 literally translates to "big plate chicken" and is a very popular dish from northwestern China. I had this dish at restaurants several times lately, and I love the intense flavor profile, the spiciness, and the tenderness of the chicken. It's a bit more involved than most dishes and requires quite a few ingredients, but the end result is incredible.
Active Time: 30 min
Total Time: 50 min
Ingredients
> chicken
> onion, bell pepper
> garlic, ginger, scallions
> dried chili peppers, star anise, cinnamon, peppercorns, bay leaf
> Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, 豆瓣酱, (chili oil)
> salt, cumin, sugar, white pepper powder
Instructions
1. Chop the chicken into small pieces. Bring some water up to a boil, add a bit of cooking wine, and blanch the chicken for 5-10 minutes. Set chicken off to the side and drain the liquid out. This step is meant to remove any impurities in the chicken.
2. Add plenty of oil to a wok over low to medium heat. Gently fry the spices and aromatics for a few minutes, making sure they don't burn.
3. Turn the heat up to high and add the chicken. Stir-fry for around 5 minutes. Add the 豆瓣酱 and stir-fry for another minute or so.
4. Add soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and water. Bring up to a boil, and cook over approximately medium heat for around 20-30 minutes.
5. Add onions and bell peppers (thinly sliced), and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so.
6. If necessary, season to taste with salt, sugar, white pepper, and lot of cumin.
7. On the side, boil some thick (ideally hand-pulled noodles). Place at the bottom of a deep plate. Then serve the broth + chicken on top of the noodles.
Notes/Tips:
> 大盘鸡 is most commonly served over thick hand-pulled noodles, which soak up the flavorful broth. It also goes well with some special flatbread (I forget what the name is)
> Any pieces of chicken could probably be used here. I'll typically use thigh (mostly because that's what I have most commonly), but it would work really well with a whole chicken.
> I like to cut my onions and bell peppers into thin slices and make those more like side supporting elements rather than key components. If you want a more robust onion/bell pepper component, you could try chopping them into similar size shapes as the chicken.
> You could also consider adding potatoes if you're not in the mood for flatbread or noodles. But be careful about the cooking time once you've added the potatoes - they'll usually cook in around 15-20 minutes. You want to make sure the potatoes are cooked through, but you also want to avoid overcooking the potatoes, which breaks it down, releases the starch into the broth, and causes the broth/sauce to become unpleasantly thick.
> Cumin is not featured in many recipes for 大盘鸡, but I think it works wonderfully with the dish and would suggest adding it liberally.
> Optionally, if you need some more spice you could consider adding a bit more chili oil.