La Zi Ji: Crisp Chicken Buried in Dried Chillies

What you need

• 600 g (1 1/3 lb) boneless chicken thighs, skin on or off, cut into 2 cm pieces
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt, plus a pinch to finish
• 1/2 tsp ground Sichuan pepper
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• neutral oil, for deep-frying, about 750 ml (3 cups)
• 30 g (1 oz) dried red chillies, snipped into 2 cm lengths, seeds shaken out
• 2 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 3 slices ginger, cut into thin strips
• 3 spring onions, cut into 3 cm lengths
• 1 tsp sugar
• 50 g (1/3 cup) roasted peanuts, skinned
• 1 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds

Method

Restated from the original video

1. 1

   Mix the chicken with the wine, soy sauce, salt, ground Sichuan pepper and cornflour. Leave for 30 min.

2. 2

   Heat the oil in a wok or deep pan to 180 °C (350 °F).

3. 3

   Fry the chicken in 2 batches, stirring to separate the pieces, until pale gold and cooked through with no pink inside, 4-5 min. Drain.

4. 4

   Bring the oil back to 190 °C (375 °F) and fry all the chicken again for 1-2 min until deep golden and crisp. Drain well.

5. 5

   Pour off all but 2 tbsp of the oil and set the wok over low heat.

6. 6

   Add the chillies and peppercorns and stir until the chillies darken slightly and smell toasty, about 1 min. Do not let them turn black.

7. 7

   Add the garlic, ginger and spring onions and stir for 30 seconds.

8. 8

   Turn the heat to high, return the chicken and sprinkle with the sugar and a pinch of salt.

9. 9

   Toss hard for 1 min so every piece picks up the chilli oil.

10. 10

    Add the peanuts and sesame seeds, toss once more and pile onto a plate. Pick out the chicken and leave the chillies behind.

Imported from cookcoda.com. Recipe Grab pulled out what you need to cook it; the video stays where its author put it.