Taken from “Saliva Chicken” by @chill_crisp on Instagram Reels and their blog on Substack.
Ingredients
to poach the chicken
- 500g boneless, skin-on chicken thigh
- 2 slices of ginger
- 5 Sichuan peppercorns
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
for the sauce
- 3 tbsp aromatic sweet soy sauce
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp ginger
- 3-4 tbsp chili oil
- 1 tsp sesame paste
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tbsp Chinese black vinegar (Chinkiang or Baoning)
- 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorn oil (or 1/2 tsp ground Sichuan pepper)
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp reserved chicken stock
for assembly
- 2 Persian cucumbers (weighs about 200g)
- 2 scallions
- 1 tbsp roasted peanuts, chopped
- toasted white sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to boil, then add the chicken thighs with ginger, Sichuan pepper and Shaoxing wine. Turn the heat to medium, poach over a light simmer for about 12-15 min until cooked but still juicy. Then turn the heat off, let the chicken sit in the water for 10 more minutes. Transfer to a bowl of iced water for 5 min. Reserve 2-3 tbsp chicken stock for the sauce and store the rest for other purposes.
- While the chicken is cooking and cooling, thinly slice cucumbers and cut into strips about 6-8 cm long. Quarter the scallion lengthwise, then cut into thin strips of similar length. Reserve some scallion green for final garnish.
- To make the sauce, finely grate ginger and garlic into a bowl, add about 1 tbsp water, mix together. In a bowl, add sesame paste and sesame oil, mix until smooth. Then add ginger-garlic water, sugar, Chinese black vinegar, chili oil, Sichuan pepper oil, and reserved chicken stock. Mix until well combined and the sugar is dissolved. If you want the sauce to be smooth, filter over a fine sieve. Taste the sauce to see if it needs anything more.
- Slice the cooked chicken. On a plate, add cucumber and scallion strips on the bottom, then add sliced chicken pieces, drizzle the sauce. Scatter with chopped peanuts, scallion green. Serve with rice and other sides
Tips to make the best mouth-watering chicken
- Choosing and preparing the chicken: traditionally, this dish uses a whole chicken. During testing, I used bone-in chicken thighs and a whole corn-fed chicken; both worked pretty well (I enjoy the texture of the latter!). For the bone-in chicken pieces, you can remove the bones after cooling or use a cleaver to cut into small pieces, or tear them into small pieces with your hands. Chicken breast works too; however, be mindful of the cooking to keep it still juicy.
- Aromatic soy sauce: I used the recipe from my sweet-water noodles, by simmering 250g soy sauce with 150g dark brown sugar, 100ml and some spices for about 30 min. Alternatively, you can use store-bought sweet soy sauce or directly mix soy sauce with dark brown sugar.
- Sichuan pepper: whole Sichuan peppers are often used in poaching meat together with ginger and scallion to add aroma and remove unpleasant taste. In the dressing I used Sichuan pepper oil, but you can use ground pepper, or store-bought tengjiao oil. The numbing taste really varies depending on which you use, start with less and build more from there.
- Sesame paste and oil: Sesame is not the major flavoring here, and some recipes skip the paste. The sesame paste is to thicken the sauce and makes it coat the chicken better. But a splash of sesame oil adds aroma, so I would keep it.
- Vegetables: shredded scallion or leek is a classic choice, but I like some cucumber for the crunch. You can also add any raw vegetable such as radish, kohlrabi, carrots. Or skip it entirely.
- Got extra sauce? I saved the sauce to dress a blanched lettuce salad the next day.