Chicken in Black Bean Sauce

Chicken stir-fried fast with fermented beans crushed into the oil.

Chicken. Not vegetarian — contains chicken.

Ingredients

• 600 g boneless chicken thighs, in 3 cm pieces
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons fermented black beans, rinsed
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
• 1 green pepper, in 3 cm pieces
• 1 onion, in petals

Sauce

• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornflour
• 100 ml water

Method

1. Toss the chicken with the wine and the 2 teaspoons of cornflour and leave it 15 minutes.
2. Rinse the beans and CRUSH half of them to a paste with the flat of a knife, leaving the rest whole. Crushed, they spread through the oil and flavour everything; whole, they give the occasional salty burst. Using them all one way loses one or the other.
3. Stir the sauce ingredients together and keep them by the hob.
4. Get the oil hot, spread the chicken in one layer, and leave it 60 seconds before stirring. Cook until just past pink, about 3 minutes, then lift it out.
5. Turn the heat to medium, add the crushed and whole beans with the garlic and ginger, and stir for 30 seconds — the beans scorch quickly and taste of ash if they do.
6. Add the onion and green pepper and stir over high heat for 2 minutes. They should still be crunchy.
7. Return the chicken, pour the sauce round the edge of the pan, and toss until it thickens and clings, about 30 seconds.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under China · All recipes