Sichuan Spicy Chicken with Edible Crispy Chilis
Presenting... a breakthrough in Laziji technology - a Sichuan Spicy Chicken where you can eat the chilis inside.
Don’t worry, this isn’t a joke recipe.
As is our April Fools tradition, the following is 100% a real recipe… though a bit on the ‘creative’ side, and the accompanying video is a bit sillier than usual. So definitely free to skip the lengthy introduction (from our Chief Innovation Officer, Hayek von Schnauzer) if you’re not into it.
Basically, for the longest time I’ve had this odd idea to try to smash together two Chinese dishes.
Dish #1: Sichuan Laziji (辣子鸡)
One of the most iconic dishes from the Sichuan province is, of course, Laziji (辣子鸡) – a.k.a. Sichuan Spicy Chicken. For the unaware, Laziji is a large plate consisting of finely chopped pieces of bone-in, deep-fried chicken stir-fried with and served amongst… an absolute mountain of dried chilis. Something a bit like this:
It’s a dish that can elicit a small measure of bewilderment to those that’re new to the sport. How… exactly do you tackle this? Do you… do you eat the dried chilis?
The simplified answer to the latter question is that, no, you don’t eat the chilis (more on that in a second, though). You sift through the chilis, hunting for small pieces of chicken in a manner that’s sometimes compared to a game of hide-and-seek. To eat the (intensely flavorful, given the relative size) bone-in chicken, you’ll then either spit out the bone, or hold the chicken fixed with your chopsticks as you gnaw around it. This is a slow eating dish - it’s the type of thing that you’d have amongst a larger meal, and it’s an absolutely fantastic in the context of drinking beer or baijiu with friends as the evening drifts in.
It’s one of those dishes that can be a bit difficult to translate outside of its cultural context. People have tried, of course - I’ve seen it both in Japanese Chuka restaurants (served as boneless karaage on a hotplate) as well as Sichuan restaurants in the States (served as chicken wings) - but there’s always something that’s sort of… missing.
Dish #2: Guizhou Chili Crisps (香辣脆)
Guizhou chili crisps, meanwhile, are a criminally underrated snack that somehow are still unavailable in the west, despite the fact that Laoganma’s most internationally-popular product carries its name. We covered this dish before, if you’re curious:
Basically, these are reconstituted dried chili peppers that’re stuffed/coated with sesame seeds and starch, then slowly and gently deep fried until crispy. They’re incredibly addictive - we almost always have a box of them in our cupboard (free business idea: this is absolutely a product that needs to make it to the international market).
The Idea
I think you can see where I’m going with this.
Because like, the answer to the question of ‘can you eat the chilis in Laziji?’ isn’t actually a straightforward “no”. It largely contingent on who ‘you’ is, together with ‘which laziji’?
Probably the most commonly seen Laziji circling around China these days is this variety presented by Chef Wang Gang. In this version, deep fried chicken is stir fried for a couple minutes together with dried chilis (and, of course, a whole smorgasbord of other seasonings). In this version, the final texture of the chili peppers would be a bit like chewy paper. You can eat the chili peppers if you really want (you are the Liza Minelli of your Dried Chili [/chef john]), but I’ve never personally met anyone that did so.
There’s another variation of the dish though, one hailing from the town of Geleshan outside of Chongqing - which is thought to be the original version. In this version, the chilis are deep fried, and then the chicken is subsequently deep-fried in the chili frying oil. In this version, the chilis themselves are theoretically edible, as they’re crispy from the deep-frying process (though likely unbalanced and much too spicy for anyone except the most committed of chiliheads).
So the idea is this:
Fry up some Guizhou chili crisps
Fry the chicken until jerky-like in the chili crisp frying oil, ala Geleshan Laziji
Stir fry them together
How to Handle the Chicken?
The last bit for us to decide was whether we wanted to go bone-in, ala the authentic Sichuanese styles of Laziji, or go for a boneless international adaptation.
During testing, we tried both. Either way does work quite well: if you feel strongly on the subject, totally opt for bone in. But in the end, we ended up settling on the latter.
Going boneless ended up giving us a bit more flexibility for how we wanted to serve the stuff. Because this Chili Crisp-Laziji hybrid works as a Laziji, but it also works as a chili crisp. It’s also pretty great to snack on with your hands - a serving style that might work better in the context of an international adaptation.
Further, I do think that if you’re trying to serve up a boneless Laziji, this might just be the best way to do it. After all, the issue with a lot of boneless Lazijis is that bone-out chicken really shrinks up in that whole-fry-til-dry process (random tip: if you’re eating Sichuan Laziji, go for the smallest pieces as those are often pure meat). So you’re left with either (1) having these minuscule bits of chicken amongst a pile of inedible chilis or (2) adjusting the size or frying process, which tends to make the chicken less spicy and less flavorful. By making the chilis themselves edible, we’re free to choose option one without much downside.
Chili Crisp Laziji (香辣脆辣子鸡)
Ingredients
Dried Chilis, 200g. For this dish, try to use the freshest dried chilis you can get your hands on - ideally, something still a bit pliable. Less fresh dried chilis will still work, but tend to turn orange-ish during the frying process. If I was in China, I would choose either Xianjiao (线椒) or Erjingtiao (二荆条) for a ‘medium’ Laziji, or Heaven Facing (朝天椒) for a spicy Laziji. In the west, I would opt for Guajillo for a medium, or Tientsin (天津辣椒) or Piri Piri for a spicy.
Filling/coating for the chilis:
Sesame seeds, 3/4 cup
AP Flour -or- Sticky Rice Flour, 6 tbsp
Cornstarch, 6 tbsp
Salt, 2 tsp
Chicken Bouillon Powder (鸡粉), 1 tsp
Oil, for frying the chilis and chicken. Enough to fully submerge your chilis. You can save the oil for further spicy chicken frying.
Chicken, 3 bone-in legs + 4 bone-in thighs - or enough for 1.25kg of chicken meat after deboning. These will be de-boned. I used a mix of legs and thighs as the former has more skin (which is awesome here), but the latter is less of a pain to debone. You will be looking for 1.25kg of meat in all.
Marinade for the chicken:
Garlic, 4 cloves
Ginger, ~1 inch
Salt, 1/2 tsp
Sichuan Peppercorns (花椒), 1 tsp
Fennel seed (小茴香), 1/2 tsp
Hot, boiled water, 1/4 cup
Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), 2 tbsp
Soy sauce (生抽), 1 tsp
Chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), 1 tsp
Sichuan pepper powder (花椒面), 1/2 tsp
White pepper powder (白胡椒粉), 1/2 tsp
Garlic powder (大蒜粉), optional, 1/8 tsp
Oil, ~2 tbsp. To coat, preferably something fragrant like peanut oil.
For the final stir fry seasoning (we will prepare this before stir-frying):
Sichuan Peppercorns (花椒), 3 tbsp. These will be toasted and ground.
Fennel Seed (小茴香), 2 tsp. These will be toasted and ground.
Salt, 1/2 tsp
Sugar, 1 tsp
White pepper powder (白胡椒粉), 1/4 tsp
Chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), 1/4 tsp
MSG (味精), 1 tbsp. That’s not a typo. One full tablespoon of Monosodium Glutamate, do not go cheap.
Chili/chicken frying oil, 1/3 cup. For the stir fry.
The spiciest dried chili you can get your hands on, 5g. Sliced. For us, this was Sichuan Millet Chili (小米辣).
Aromatics for the stir fry:
Garlic, 3 cloves. Minced.
Ginger, ~1/2 inch. Minced.
Scallion, 1 large, white part only. Minced.
Optional: fresh bird’s eye chili, 8 small chilis. Minced. Not common to see fresh chili in a Laziji, but this added to the heat and seemed to slice into the background well enough.
Sichuan peppercorns, 1/2 tbsp.
Red, fragrant chili powder, 2 tbsp. E.g. Gochugaru, Kashmiri, Qinjiao (秦椒). For color.
Baijiu liquor (二锅头) -or- Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), 1 tbsp.
Dark Chinese vinegar (陈醋/香醋/保宁醋), 1 tsp.
Toasted sesame oil (麻油), 1/2 tbsp.
Sichuan pepper oil (花椒油/藤椒油), 1 tbsp.
Sesame seeds. For garnish.
Process
For the chili crisps:
Slice the chilis on a bias into ~1 inch sections. The bias will help the filling stay inside the chili. This will be a lot of chilis to work through, so toss on a podcast or something. Place the chilis in a spider, and give it a jiggle to get out some of the seeds. Transfer to a large bowl, and reconstitute with hot, boiled water from the kettle. Cover, and let it sit for ~30 minutes.
After that time, strain, and let some of the water drip off for 15-30 minutes. You do not want the chilis to become too dry, as a bit of moisture will help form the coating.
After that time, in a large mixing bowl mix together the “filling/coating for the chili”. Add the chilis in. Pulling from the bottom up, continuously mix the chilis for 3-4 minutes, or until the vast majority of the coating has entered or coated the peppers. You might have a touch extra filling. If you do not have enough, you can add additional cornstarch.
Add the chilis to a hot wok filled with 130C oil, over a medium flame. This will lower the temperature, which is expected - for much of the frying process, we will be hovering around 90C. Deep fry, stirring occasionally.
As the moisture from the chilis evaporates off, the frying oil will begin to inch up past 100C. This will take somewhere between 8 minutes and 30 minutes depending on how fresh your dried chilis are.
At this point, we like to keep the chilis going for another ~3 minutes or so, or until the oil reaches up to 130C once again. The chilis should be crispy at this point. Remove with the spider, and let some of the oil drain off.
Over a large bowl, give the chilis a bit of a jiggle once again so that any of the excess fried filling sifts off. Remove the excess fried filling, we will add it at the bottom of our final plate. Lay the chili crisps over a paper towel lined plate or baking tray.
For the chicken:
Debone the chicken, then slice into ~1cm cubes. Set aside.
For the marinade, first add the garlic, ginger, and salt to a mortar. Pound until pasty, then add the Sichuan peppercorns and the fennel seed, and slightly crack with the pestle. Add in the hot, boiled water from the kettle, and let it sit until everything is cool enough to touch, about 15-20 minutes.
Strain into a separate bowl, squeezing every last drop from the pounded mixture. Add in the remainder of the ‘chicken marinade’ ingredients except for the oil. Mix well, folding the marinade into the chicken cubes, 1-2 minutes. Once absorbed, add in the oil to coat and mix again. Marinate for at least 15 minutes, and up to 60.
Over a high flame, add the marinated chicken to a wok filled with 150C oil - same oil as frying the chilis. Top up with a touch of fresh oil if needed. This will similarly lower the temperate to under 100C. It will feel like you’re crowding the wok, as the oil turns murky. Be patient, we will be looking for a hard, dry, ‘jerky-like’ end result.
After about 20 minutes, the oil should be clear and inching up past 100C once again. I similarly take this out once the frying oil has reached 130C once again, or once the chicken feels obviously ‘hard’ if you pulled a chopstick through it.
Drain and reserve.
For the final stir fry seasoning:
In a wok or pan, toast the Sichuan pepper and the fennel seed over a medium flame until fragrant and the Sichuan pepper begins to have a touch of sheen, ~3 minutes.
Grind into a powder. Add the remainder of the seasoning and reserve.
For the final stir fry:
Take 1/3 cup of the chili/chicken frying oil and swirl it into a hot wok. Swap the flame to low. Deep fry your spicy chili until it’s crispy, ~1-2 minutes. Remove, and toss together with your chili crisps.
Staying over a low flame, add in the aromatics. Fry until the aromatics begin to get slightly golden brown, 1-2 minutes. Add in the Sichuan peppercorns and fry until fragrant, ~30 seconds. Add in the red chili pepper powder and mix well. Up the flame to high.
Add in the fried chicken, and swirl in the wine. Add in the chili chips, swirl in the vinegar, and give it a quick mix. Swap the flame to low. Sprinkle in the seasoning, the toasted sesame oil, and Sichuan pepper oil. Mix well.
On your serving plate, make a small ‘bed’ of any excess fried sesame/filling from the chili crisp frying. Lay the stir fry on. Sprinkle over a bit of toasted sesame seeds for garnish.
Eat with beer or baijiu.
Quick note re Keeping the Frying Oil
If this is your first time frying the dish, the oil itself will be moderately spicy - this is why I added the spicy chilis in the stir frying stage as well. After repeated frying, the oil will become increasingly chili-laced. You can skip the additional chilis in the stir frying stage once this occurs.
Strain after use, and keep the oil as you would deep frying oil.
Quick note re Keeping the Dish
This dish keeps rather well. Less well than the chili crisps straight up, but it’s still delicious for 3-4 days at least.
That said, the chilis stay crispiest and everything is tastiest the day of the stir fry. So if you have ambitions on keeping the stuff for a bit, our recommendation would be to (1) prepare the chili crisps and the chicken in advance (the chicken can be kept in the fridge), then (2) stir fry it together when you want it.
If your chili crisps appear to no longer be very crispy (this can happen, especially if you packaged up the final stir fry while it was still warm), you can re-crisp them up in the oven. After 15 minutes in a 120C oven with the fan on, they should be good and crunchy once again.