Tempt Your Tastebuds - Shanghai-Sichuan Chicken by Vivienne Lu

SHANGHAI-SICHUAN CHICKEN

Our latest Human in the World, Zhang Zhong Jiu – or John – is also connected to this issue’s delicious recipe.

John is our very popular Chinese ground agent/tour leader/national guide/fixer, who has worked with Jon Baines for decades, and is a good friend as well as professional peer. John lives in Chengdu in Sichuan Province with his partner, Vivienne Lu, who hails from Shanghai.

One of Vivienne’s passions, alongside yoga, is cooking. This is one of her original recipes, combining traditional Shanghai flavours with the spices and heat of Sichuan. She started experimenting with new recipes during the pandemic and after some trial and error perfected this dish – Shanghai-Sichuan Chicken.

John reports that this is one of his top five dishes, and he is no beginner when it comes to the cuisine of China. This dish feeds two people, one of them a hungry John.

Tasting notes: tender / rich texture / lingering aroma / good balance of sweet & spicy flavours.

Chi hao! (Enjoy your meal!)

INGREDIENTS

2 chicken legs, about 500-600g with bone

Lemongrass about 5g

Coriander about 3g

Ginger about 8g

Red chili about 2-5g, depending on capacity for heat (make it double for people from Chengdu!)

ShaoXing wine (or substitute any cooking wine, even white wine, but no red wine please!）

Icing sugar (or caster sugar) about 10-15g

Oyster sauce about 15-20g

Soy sauce about 3-5g

METHOD

Take the chicken off the bone and add to a bowl with a shake of salt, Shaoxing wine, ginger and white pepper. Marinate for 20-30 minutes.

Toss the chicken in flour. Using a wok or a large frying pan, pan fry the chicken, turning it to ensure that all sides are evenly cooked, until golden. Remove from pan and put to one side.

Pan fry the lemongrass, ginger and red chili for 1 minute, then return the chicken to the wok.

Add Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce, icing sugar and stir-fry continually for 5 minutes.

Serve on a flat plate and top with coriander leaves as garnish.

Tips: Keep tasting during cooking – the flavour can be adjusted, depending on who you are cooking for (eg, people from Shanghai like a bit more sugar and soy sauce and less chilii than people from Chengdu).

‍