Chengdu Chicken - An Authentic Chinese Chicken Recipe

This Szechuan dish is named after Chengdu, which is the capital of China's Szechuan province. This recipe serves three people as an entree or six if you are serving another dish with it. The hot bean paste gives the dish plenty of flavor. This ingredient is made with crushed chilies and soy beans.

Szechuan cuisine is famed for its bold flavors. Garlic, Szechuan peppercorns, and chilies are widely used in recipes from this recipe and ginger, sesame paste and peanuts also feature in a lot of recipes. As well as Chengdu recipes, there are Chongquig recipes, Zigong ones and Buddhist vegetarian food from the Szechuan region. The word is sometimes spelt Szechwan or Sichuan.

What you will need:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 bunch spinach
• 1 green onion
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon Szechuan pepper or coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 slices ginger
• 1 tablespoon hot bean paste
• 1 clove garlic
• Salt, as needed

For the marinade:

• 1 tablespoon dry sherry or rice wine
• 3 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

For the sauce:

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon dry sherry or rice wine
• 2 teaspoons red rice vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon white sugar

How to make it:

Wash the chicken and pat it dry on paper towels. Discard any fat. Cut the meat into strips and then cut the strips into one inch cubes. Combine the sherry or rice wine, sesame oil, soy sauce and black pepper to make the marinade, and then stir in the cornstarch. Marinate the meat in this mixture for twenty minutes in the refrigerator.

Combine the vinegar, soy sauce, rice wine or sherry and sugar to make the sauce. Dissolve the cornstarch in the water in another bowl. Smash and peel the garlic. Chop the ginger and garlic. Wash the green onion and chop it finely. Wash the spinach and drain it.

Heat the wok, and then add a tablespoon of the oil. Add the spinach and some salt. Wilt the spinach for a few seconds, and then remove it from the wok. Clean out the wok and add four tablespoons of oil to it. Add the chicken and fry it, stirring all the time. When it is almost cooked, take it out of the wok, leaving two tablespoons of oil in there. Add the hot bean paste, garlic, and ginger and fry for half a minute. Put the chicken back in the wok and stir the mixture.

Push the meat up the wok sides and add the sauce to the center. Stir the cornstarch mixture again and mix it into the sauce, stirring it fast so it thickens. Stir the chicken into the sauce and add the sesame oil and green onion. Sprinkle the Szechuan pepper or coriander over the top and serve it with the wilted spinach and perhaps some rice or egg noodles.

Chinese Food - Peking Duck Recipe

Peking Duck is one of the most famous Chinese foods originating from the ancient royal courts. For centuries, the best Chinese chefs trained extensively in order to make sure that they could present this delicacy properly to the Emperor. In fact, their very lives depended on it. Today, no chef will lose his life for messing up his Peking Duck recipe but his self-esteem will be sorely dented. However, with attention to detail, a modern day Peking Duck can be a feast fit for royalty. Here's just one of the many up to date Peking Duck recipes:

Ingredients

1 3.5 - 4 lb duck (fresh or frozen)
2 pints water
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp honey
5 fl oz rice wine (you can use dry sherry)
1 lemon

To serve:

8 - 12 Chinese Pancakes
4 - 6 tbsp hoisin sauce
16 - 24 spring onions (cut into thin slivers lengthwise or into brushes)

In China, ducks are specially raised on a diet of soybeans, maize, sorghum and barley for just six weeks, when they are ready for cooking.

Normally, the preparation of Peking Duck is rather time consuming and complex. The duck must be cleaned and plucked thoroughly, then air should be piped in to separate the skin from the flesh which let the skin roast to a lovely crispness. While the duck dries a sugar solution is brushed over the duck and it is then roasted in a wood fired oven. However, with our modern life styles being what they are, this Peking Duck recipe is rather less complicated.

Rinse and dry the duck thoroughly, blotting with kitchen paper.

Mix the water, dark soy sauce, honey and rice wine together and combine with the lemon cut into thick slices and bring to the boil then simmer for about 20 minutes. Ladle the mixture over the duck several times, ensuring that the skin is thoroughly coated. Hang the duck up to dry somewhere cool and well ventilated with a roasting tin beneath it to catch any drips. When the duck is properly dry the skin will feel like paper.

Roast the duck on a rack over a roasting tin in which you have water to a depth of about two inches (this stops the

fat splashing), in a pre-heated oven 475ºF, 240ºC, Gas 9 for 15 minutes. Turn the oven temperature down to 350ºF, 180ºC, Gas 4 and continue cooking for 1 hour, 10 minutes.

Let the duck rest for about fifteen minutes before serving. You can carve the meat and skin into pieces using a knife or cleaver or you can shred it with a spoon and fork.

Serve the duck with warmed Chinese pancakes, spring onions and hoisin sauce.

Each diner takes a pancake, spreads on a little hoisin sauce then tops that with some meat and crispy skin followed by a spring onion brush or some strips of spring onion. The pancake and contents are then rolled up into a tube and eaten either with one's fingers or with chopsticks.

Even this simple version of the classic Peking Duck makes a very special dinner party dish, fit for an Emperor.