Saturday 4 August 2012

San Bei Ji (3 Cup Chicken) - Olympic Food Challenge : Taiwan


As if to illustrate how fraught this whole Olympics malarkey is, and how diplomatic one has to be when putting your words up on t'interweb where anyone can see them, my initian post about the Olympic Food Challenge (Back when it seemed like a good idea and before I started hallucinating flags and endless combinations of stews, soups and ingredients) someone got in touch to a) find out what dish I would be doing when I reached Chinese Taipei, and b) tell me that no matter what the Chinese or the IOC may think, there is no such place as Chinese Taipei, but Taiwan is doing just fine thank you.*
Well, who was I to argue, as said person (hello, if you're reading this btw) lived in Taiwan.  I only hope that they think I've done this dish justice, as it is said that "A restaurant that cannot cook Sanbeiji is not a true Taiwanese restaurant." Oh, I also tried making some little (and not strictly accurate) crisps from the skin of the chicken, but the less said about them, the better...
*If the Chinese Authorities are reading this, ummm, sorry...


Ingredients
450g Boneless Chicken Thighs
50ml Light Soy Sauce
50ml Shaosing Rice Wine
50ml Toasted Seasame Oil
2tsp Garlic Puree
2tsp Ginger Puree
1tbsp Soft Brown Sugar
1tbsp Thai Basil Leaves

 Method
1. Skin and bone the thighs and then cut the meat into strips

2. Heat some oil in a wok.  When it is smoking, fry the garlic and ginger for a few seconds

3.  Add the chicken and mix it with the garlic and ginger.  Stir fry for 3 minutes

4.  Add the soy sauce, seasame oil and rice wine, bring to the boil and then turn down the heat, simmering for 5-6 minutes and then add the sugar.

5.  Let the sauce reduce down until it is thick and sticky.  Stir in the basil leaves and allow to wilt then serve.

6.  I stir fryed some brocoli with a bit of ginger and garlic to accompany, and steamed some white rice.  Garnish with thinly sliced red chili.  Enjoy!

2 comments:

  1. Hi :-D
    Sanbeiji is a great choice! And this looks good! How did you like the taste?
    The only thing I would say is that I use sliced ginger instead of ginger puree (fried ginger tastes brilliant in the sauce!) and I add a lot more basil (about 1 cup). Personal preference =)
    Well done!
    Yen-pei

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    1. I absolutely loved it - possibly the best dish we cooked over the challenge. I would have used sliced ginger but alas, I forgot to buy any... Didn't want to put too much basil in as I didnt want to overpower it, but next time, I think I will add more! Thanks for recommending it!

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