Spicy Szechuan Peppercorn Chicken

This is a quick and simple dish of diced chicken, lightly battered, fried and stir-fried with Szechuan peppercorns, dried chilli peppers, ginger, garlic and green onions. This is my first time using szechuan peppercorn in my cooking and it won’t be the last. I remember seeing the Australian Chef Kylie Kwong used it ever so often in her dishes and I just have to try it out and and I must said I really like it. The peppercorn gave out a really unique aroma to the dish and when you bite into it, it creates in the mouth a kind of tingly numbness. For more information about szechuan peppercorns refer to here .


Ingredients :

2 pieces of chicken breast - cut into 1/2" cubes
2 tbsp of rice wine
1 tbsp light soysauce
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg white
3 tbsp of cornstarch

10 dried chili - cut about 1/2" long
2 cloves of garlic - sliced
2" of ginger - thinly sliced
3 spring onions - cut small
2 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tsp of sugar

2 tbsp of sesame seeds - toasted
1 tbsp of szechuan peppercorn - crush
Salt to taste

1. Marinate the chicken with rice wine, soy sauce and salt for 30 minutes. Then add in the egg white and cornstarch and mix well. Heat up some oil to deep fry the chicken.
2. Fry the chicken for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown. Dish out and drain well and set it aside. Remove all the oil from the pan and leave about 1 tbsp in it.
3) In a medium heat, stir fry the garlic, ginger and dry chillies. Take great care not to burn the chillies.
4. Stir fry until its fragrant and add in the chicken. Stir well and add in the soy sauce, salt to taste and the sesame seeds and szechuan peppercorns. Stir well.
5. Add in the spring onions and after a quick toss dish out and serve with warm rice.