Stir-fried chilli chicken with szechuan pepper

Chicken

Stir-fried chilli chicken with szechuan pepper

Name: Stir-fried chilli chicken with szechuan pepper
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4

Main Serves 4 20 min

This hot and sharp chicken dish makes a good dinner with a pile of rice. Szechuan peppercorns or 'flower peppers' are not peppers at all, but berries from a shrub belonging to the citrus family. Their taste, which is sharp rather than hot, is best brought out by dry-frying them over a medium heat for a few minutes until slightly browned. Remove from the heat then grind with a pestle and mortar or a coffee grinder, then keep in an air tight container.

Cook's notes

Szechuan dishes are typically fragrant and spicy - this is no exception. Serve with boiled rice.

Ingredients

450g skinless chicken breast
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp dry sherry or rice wine
3 tbsp groundnut oil
225g mild green piquant peppers or chillies, sliced lengthways and seeds removed
3 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
1 tsp szechuan peppercorns, roasted and crushed
2 tsp brown sugar

Method

Prep time: 10 min

Cooking time: 10 min

Step 1
Cut the breast meat into thin slices and marinate in the light soy, sesame oil and sherry.
Step 2
Heat a wok or frying pan, add the groundnut oil and fry off the chicken slices (reserving the marinade) for a minute or so then remove with a slotted spoon.
Step 3
When hot again add the chillies, garlic and szechuan pepper to the oil and stir fry for a minute then add a splash of water, the soy, sherry marinade from the chicken, and sugar.
Step 4
Cook for a further minute then return the chicken to the pan and heat through (if you sliced it as thin as you should it will be cooked through). Serve over boiled rice.