Out in the great northwest region of
China, chickens are just not a big deal. The main proteins there have always
tended to be animals that thrive in the dry climate and are able to graze on whatever
the land manages to provide.
In short, that means sheep. Cattle and goats are
lower down on the list, way lower, and the poultry and pigs that populate every
other area’s cuisines are here more or less the province of the Han Chinese living
in the cities. For the minority peoples who live out in this area’s deserts and
plateaus and wind-swept mountains, though, well, they like to eat lamb and
mutton.
And yet, the chicken dishes that do manage
to be made around these parts are savory and intriguing, partly because local
cooks make the most of this rare ingredient, often by first blanching or
steaming the bird before frying it, which capitalizes on the juiciness while
turning every bit of the skin into a crunchy layer, or else frying it before tossing it with an enticing sauce, which is what we have here.
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| Chilies, onions, ginger & garlic |
In this dish, two other items that are
prized members of the cuisine of Gansu – as well as of Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces – are
featured: chilies and dark vinegar. Using fresh green chilies here instead of
red ones emphasizes their herbal nature and keeps the crispy bits from becoming
too sweet. The vinegar also tones down the sweetness, its friendly tartness
perking up the appetite and punching extra flavor into each bite. (Because of
safety issues, I have substituted apple cider and balsamic vinegar for the
usual black Shanxi vinegar here.)
In fact, the traditional recipe for this
dish is so radically on the tart end of the equation that nothing at all tames
those sour notes, which is probably a great idea in an area where the heat can
be so oppressing. I've played around with this a bit, though, and added a small
amount of rock sugar, which smooths out the vinegar’s tendency to overpower all
of the other flavors. It’s a matter of taste, though, how much sugar you want
to add, or even whether you want to add any at all.
I’ve also used only chicken wings here,
dismantling each one into three parts, which evens out the cooking times and
gives the sauce more places to cling to. The result is a moist mouthful of
tender meat edged with a crunchy crust that is wrapped with a delicately sweet
and sour and spicy sauce, the many aromatics lending extra texture and color to
each bite.
Chicken with green chilies Gansu style
Dàkuài làzi jī 大塊辣子雞
Gansu
Serves 4 to 6
Chicken:
12 whole chicken wings
¾ cup cornstarch
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| Spicy & savory |
3 tablespoons regular soy sauce
5 tablespoons rice wine
Frying oil (peanut or vegetable)
Aromatics:
6 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger
½ cup sliced green jalapeno chilies (see Tips)
4 green onions, trimmed and sliced on the diagonal
Sauce:
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons regular soy sauce
2 to 4 tablespoons rock or white sugar, optional
4 tablespoons sesame oil
Filtered water, as needed
1. Rinse the chicken wings and pat them
dry with a paper towel. Cut each wing into three pieces; you can keep the wing
tips for this dish or save them for stock, whatever you prefer. Mix the
cornstarch with the soy sauce and wine in a medium work bowl, and then toss in
the wings. Coat them evenly with the thin cornstarch mixture.
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| Northern fried chicken |
2. Heat about an inch of oil in a wok over
medium-high and add a third or a quarter of the wings to the hot oil. Swirl the
wok around to shuffle the pieces apart and coat them with the oil. When one
side is browned, turn the pieces over and continue to fry them until they are
completely golden brown. Remove them to a plate. Repeat with the rest of the
wings until all have been fried; keep the chicken in a warm oven if your
kitchen is cold.
3. Drain out all but about 2 tablespoons
of the oil. Heat the oil over high and add all of the aromatics; stir-fry these
quickly until they are fragrant. Scoot the vegetables up the side of the wok,
lower the heat way down low, and add all of the sauce ingredients, using the
smaller amount of sugar to start with. Smack the rock sugar as it starts to
melt, as this will break it apart and speed up the melting process, and add some filtered water as needed to
keep the sauce fluid. When the sugar has melted, taste and adjust the
seasoning, adding more sugar or any of the other ingredients as desired. Again,
add more water as necessary so that you have at least ½ cup sauce in the wok.
Turn the heat up to high and add the hot fried chicken. Toss it with the sauce
and aromatics until the chicken is evenly coated. Serve hot.
Tips
Use other cuts of chicken, if you prefer,
or even a whole chicken cut into smallish pieces.
The traditional recipe calls for green
chili peppers, and they add a nice herbal zing to this dish. Feel free to
substitute whatever fresh chilies you like here, as hot or mild as you like.
