Three cup chicken
Ching He-Huang’s ‘three cups’ refer to the traditional Taiwanese or Chinese chicken dish that uses three key ingredients - rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil.
Ingredients
- 250g/9oz boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sliced into 1-2.5cm/½-1in cubes
- pinch sea salt flakes
- pinch ground white pepper
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
- large knob fresh root ginger, peeled, cut into large slices
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed, but left whole
- 1 red chilli, sliced into rings
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine (or dry sherry)
- 50ml/2fl oz low-sodium light soy sauce
- 50ml/2fl oz toasted sesame oil
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- small bunch Taiwanese nine-story pagoda leaf basil (or Thai basil)
- steamed jasmine rice, to serve
- dollop chilli bean sauce, to serve
Method
Put the chicken in a bowl, add the salt and ground white pepper and then dust with the cornflour. Mix well to coat and then set aside.
Heat a wok over a high heat until smoking and add the rapeseed oil. Add the ginger, garlic and red chilli and toss for a few seconds to release the flavour.
Add the chicken pieces to the pan and leave the chicken for 10 seconds without moving to sear and colour, then flip the thighs over.
Pour in the Shaoxing rice wine (or dry sherry) and stir fry for 2–3 minutes on a high heat, or until the chicken is almost cooked.
Add the light soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and sugar and cook for 5 minutes, or until the liquid has almost evaporated. The chicken should have a dark brown, slightly sticky shine. Add the basil leaves and toss through to wilt, then take off the heat and serve immediately with rice and chilli bean sauce.
Recipe Tips
Ching served this with her on Saturday Kitchen.
