La Zi Ji — Chongqing Chicken

Crisp bite-sized chicken buried in dried chillies and Sichuan peppercorns, Chongqing style.

TIME BREAKDOWN
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 30 min
Total: 1 hour
Vegetarian
❌
Nuts
❌
Serves
4 people
Difficulty
Medium

Ingredients

  • 800g bone-in chicken thighs, chopped through the bone into 2cm to 3cm pieces (ask your butcher)
  • For the marinade: 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
  • 1 tsp fine salt
  • 2cm piece fresh ginger, sliced
  • 3 tbsp cornflour
  • Vegetable oil, for deep-frying (about 1 litre), plus 2 tbsp for stir-frying
  • 50g dried Chinese red chillies (about 40), snipped in half, seeds shaken out
  • 2 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
  • 5 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 3cm piece fresh ginger, finely sliced
  • 3 spring onions, cut into 2cm lengths
  • 1 tsp caster sugar
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Method

  1. Mix the chicken with the soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, salt and ginger. Marinate for 20 minutes, then remove the ginger and toss the chicken in the cornflour until evenly coated.

  2. Heat the oil for deep-frying in a deep, heavy-based pan to 170°C. Fry the chicken in batches for 5 to 6 minutes until golden and cooked through. Drain on a wire rack.

  3. Increase the oil temperature to 190°C and fry the chicken again for 1 minute until very crisp. Drain well.

  4. Heat the 2 tbsp oil in a wok over a medium heat. Add the dried chillies and Sichuan peppercorns and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant and slightly darker.

  5. Add the garlic, sliced ginger and spring onions and stir-fry for 30 seconds.

  6. Return the chicken to the wok with the sugar and toss over a high heat for 1 minute so every piece is coated in spice.

  7. Scatter over the sesame seeds and serve with steamed rice. Search among the chillies for the chicken, as they are there for fragrance rather than to be eaten.