← Nouns Cooking · Chinese

Ingredients

• 500 g boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1.5 cm cubes
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tsp Shaoxing wine
• 2 tsp Cornflour (cornstarch)
• 2 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp Dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 2 tsp Cornflour (cornstarch)
• 3 tbsp water or chicken stock
• 3 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil
• 8 dried red chillies, snipped into 2 cm pieces, most seeds shaken out
• 1 tsp whole Sichuan peppercorns
• 4 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 cm piece Ginger, cut into thin matchsticks
• 5 Spring onion, cut into 2 cm lengths, whites and greens kept apart
• 75 g roasted unsalted peanuts
• 1 tsp Toasted sesame oil (optional)

Method

1. Toss the chicken with the soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and cornflour and leave it while you chop everything else. Stir all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.
2. Heat the oil in a wok over medium-low heat. Add the dried chillies and Sichuan peppercorns and stir for about 30 seconds, until the chillies darken a shade and smell toasty. Do not let them turn black.
3. Turn the heat to high, add the chicken and spread it out. Leave it for 1 minute to sear, then stir-fry until it is opaque all over and just cooked through, about 3–4 min.
4. Add the garlic, ginger and spring onion whites and stir-fry until fragrant, about 1 minute.
5. Give the sauce a stir (the cornflour sinks), pour it in and toss until it bubbles and turns glossy, around 30 seconds. Check a large piece of chicken is cooked through (75°C / 165°F).
6. Turn off the heat, toss in the peanuts, spring onion greens and sesame oil, and serve straight away with steamed rice.

Tips

• Contains peanuts. For a nut allergy, swap in roasted cashews only if they are safe, or leave nuts out entirely.
• Chicken breast works too, but take it off the heat a little sooner so it stays tender.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

RecipeTin Eats Omnivore's Cookbook Made With Lau