Szechuan Chicken

Not for the faint of heart, this Spicy Szechuan chicken stir fry is made with Szechuan (Sichuan) peppers for that tongue-tingling heat. Plus plenty of dried red chilies too! If you like heat you’re gonna love this one!

Ingredients
Chicken and marinade:
8 boneless chicken thighs chopped into bite size chunks
1 T dark soy sauce
1 T light soy sauce
1 T Chinese rice wine
¼ t white pepper
2 T cornstarch

For Frying:
1 cup sunflower oil
1 T sesame oil
1 onion peeled and chopped into chunks
25 dried red chilies (chop 5 of them into small pieces, and leave the rest whole)
1½ t Sichuan peppercorns ground using a pestle and mortar (the 1½ tsp is measured BEFORE grinding)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 t ginger, minced
5 green onions, roughly chopped
2 T light soy sauce
1 T Chinese rice wine
1 T chili bean paste, see Notes
1 T sugar

Instructions:
Place the chicken pieces in a bowl with the rest of the marinade ingredients. Stir together, cover and marinade for 30 minutes (or up to a couple of hours – place in the refrigerator if marinating for more than 30 minutes). Heat the oil (reserving 1 tbsp for later) over a medium-high heat in a large frying pan. Add the chicken, a piece at a time (you may need to work in 2 batches), and cook for 4-5 minutes, turning a couple of times, until golden. Remove from the pan and place on a plate. Heat the reserved 1 tbsp of sunflower oil along with 1 tbsp of sesame oil in a wok over a medium-high heat. Add the onion and dried chilies and stir fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring often, until the onion starts to soften slightly. Add in the ground Sichuan peppers and fry for a further minute. Add in the garlic, ginger, and spring onions and stir fry for a further 30 seconds. Add in the soy sauce, rice wine, chili bean paste, and sugar. Stir together and fry for another minute. Add in the cooked chicken and toss everything together, heating for a further minute or two until the chicken is hot. Serve with boiled rice.

Notes:
Chili Bean Paste – known as toban djan or doubanjiang – if you can’t find this, you can replace with Gochujang (a Korean Chili paste that’s little sweeter, but still good), or at a push, hoisin sauce mixed with a good pinch of chili flakes.

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