Spicy Chinese Chicken

My wife and I are big fans of stir fry meals, and I would image that probably many of you are as well. I think the beauty of the stir fry is that not only are they diverse, but heck, you get to use a great wok over high heat, right? Some of my favorite stir fry meals include an array of fresh vegetables, and a great sauce to boot. With that said, I had some chicken that I had set out and as my children love a sauteed chicken dish I make served over rice, I figured I would spice things up a bit and see how they would react. Just to note, this is not overly spicy, and I would consider the recipe to have an average heat level so that many, if not all of you could serve at home.

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1/2 cup low sodium chicken stock
• 4 tsp pink peppercorns
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 3 whole chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, cut into bite sized cubes
• 4 whole chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, cut into bite sized cubes
• 2 tbsp Chinese black bean chili bean paste
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp Chinese chili oil (or make your own)
• 2 tbsp Shao Hsing Rice Wine
• 1 whole dry chili pepper, optional
• 4 whole green onions, thinly sliced
• Cooked rice

Seems like a lot, but it really is not, and if the ingredients seem foreign to you, feel free to visit your local Asian market, or ethnic aisle at your grocery store.

Start by making your slurry. Add the chicken stock to a small mixing bowl, then whisk in the corn starch until it is nice and smooth.

To another large bowl, add the rice wine, black bean paste, chili oil, and soy sauce, and give a nice stir. Add the chicken and give it a good mix.

Heat your wok on medium, to medium high heat. Toss in your pink peppercorns, and stir those around for about thirty seconds. This will release some of their oils and get nice and fragrant. After you smell them, remove them and lightly crush them in your spice grinder, or mortar and pestle, you chose.

Return the wok to a medium high heat. Add the canola oil and let it come up to temperature. Toss in the onion, garlic, ginger, and crushed pink peppercorns.  Stir  fry that for 30 seconds or so, then add the entire chicken mixture. Raise the heat, and get stir frying.

Right when the chicken begins to turn color, stir the slurry mixture one more time, then add that to the stir fry. Give a good stir. This will begin to thicken a bit and give you a really great sauce that you will love eating with the rice. If you are using a dry chili of any kind, toss that in.

Once the sauce thickens, and the chicken is cooked through, add in about half of the sliced green onions. Give that a stir, then add everything to your serving dish. Shower the top with the remaining green onions.

To serve, simply get a bowl, add some rice,  and spoon on generous amounts of the spicy Chinese chicken. You get that great garlic and ginger flavor that you would expect with a great stir fry, and then those hints of pink peppercorn,  that is balanced with the Shao Hsing rice wine. This is a good one, easy to make, and is perfect any day of the week. Hope you enjoy.