The Hubby and I are continuing our Sichuan kick in the kitchen these days, mainly because my family keeps me in stock of incredibly fragrant Sichuan Peppercorns. The next dish we decided to try our hands at was La Zhi Ji Ding, deep fried morsels of chicken, wok-fried with dry chili peppers and numbing Sichuan peppercorns. At restaurants I love picking out the pieces of chicken from the sea of chili peppers, like a tasty treasure hunt. Making the dish ourselves we used fewer chili peppers, but far more potent ones. Trying to maximize the amount of wok-air (and get photos), we let the oil get a little too hot and the chili peppers did blacken. I’d recommend adding the aromatics to the wok as soon as the oil begins to smoke.
- 20 chicken wings, deboned and cut into small cubes
- 2 tbsp rice wine
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 egg white
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup dried whole chili peppers
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 spring onions, diced
- 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns crushed
- Debone the chicken wings and cut into small pieces.
- Marinate the chicken with thr rice wine, 1 tbsp of soy sauce and salt for 30 minutes.
- After the chicken is marinated, add the cornstarch, egg white and mix well.
- In a sauce pan (or deep fryer), heat the oil to 375F and fry the battered chicken until golden.
- In a wok, heat up 1 tbsp of the oil used for frying the chicken. Once the oil begins to smoke, add the garlic and dry chili peppers.
- Fry until fragrant and remove from heat. Add in the cooked chicken, crushed Sichuan peppercorns and toss together. Garnish with chopped green onions before serving.
- We used chicken wings because that's what we had on hand and the ratio of skin to dark meat was perfect. Other cuts of chicken can also be used, and would cut done on prep time with less intense de-boning required.
Prep and assemble ingredients
Heat up oil and fry the chicken
Fry chicken until golden and set aside
In a hot wok, heat up oil and add the garlic and dry chili peppers. Once fragrant, add the cooked chicken, Sichuan peppercorns and toss together.
[…] the taste of dan dan noodles from my favourite restaurants. After our succesfull attempt at La Zhi Ji Ding, The Hubby was confident he could cook the dish from scratch and tweak the recipe to appeal to […]