Friday, October 03, 2008

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.

37 comments:

Ashley said...

That looks absolutely fabulous! I am salivating at the pictures. Literally.

Finla said...

Wow I am soooooooooo going to make this. Looks so Delicious.

Little Corner of Mine said...

So yummy looking and beautifully presented. I nearly forget that I have some szechuan peppercorns in my cabinet.

Zue Murphy said...

Where can I buy this szechuan peppercorn? Is it hot?

Beachlover said...

chicken look crunchy and spicy!! love it!I never cook this dish b4...I think it's right time to cook more spciy food wuring this chill season..

Mari @ Once Upon a Plate said...

Yum, I would love to have that for lunch or dinner today. Very nice!

Anonymous said...

Looks really delicious! I especially love the chilies :)

Food For Tots said...

Looks great! I luv spicy food. Will sure give it a try.

Anonymous said...

I love everything Szechuan. I think it's the hot and spicy kick that really gets me.

I will try your recipe - as soon as I find some peppercorn?

Gretchen Noelle said...

This plate of food looks so good! Makes me ready for lunch!

Debbie said...

Looks delicious. I love spicy food!

VG said...

Hi Gert

I like using szechuan peppercorns too....I add it to my hoisin or chilli bean paste dishes to give it more oomph! Yum.

Shreya said...

hi, really spicy and tasty recipe! wonderful picture too:-)

ICook4Fun said...

Ashley, thank you.

Happy Cook, hope you like that simple yet wonderful dish :)

LCOM, thank you. Maybe you can try out this dish using the peppercorns :)

Zue, you can get this peppercorns from supermarket. Just go to the spices asile. I got mine at Philly at a spices store.

Lesley, yea with this cold weather is nice to eat spicy food :)

Once Upon a plate, thank you :)

Mycookinghut, thank you.

Food for tots, hope you like this.

Chili & Choc, do let me know how your dish turn out.

Gretchen, ha ha

Debbie, this dish is spicy so go easy on the dry chillis :)

Vg, I just love the peppercorns especially its gives a tingly sensation when you bite into it :)

Shreya, thank you.

vanillasugarblog said...

Ohh this is perfect for eating on a cold, rainy day like we have now. I love this type of dish so much. Mmmm

sugarlens said...

Oh my, I am definitely making this...as soon as I can find some peppercorn. Thanks for sharing this!

tigerfish said...

It's 1 hour away from lunch, here! Feel like having just this with some rice :)

Anonymous said...

This looks delish, I have been craving for spicy food lately ....

Big Boys Oven said...

justr adore you and kylie, both are stunning cooks!

ICook4Fun said...

Dawn, this dish is really good with rice.

Sugarlens, you are most welcome and do let me know how your dish turn out.

Tigerfish, this dish go well with rice :)

Janet ching, hope you will try this out.

BBO, thank you

Nate @ House of Annie said...

Oy, this dish has got me salivating with the thought of tingly numbing Sichuan peppercorns.

How do you "crush" the peppercorns?

ICook4Fun said...

Nate & Annie, I just used my 'lesung' (mortar pestle) to crush the peppercorns.

Unknown said...

i havent tried doing anything sze chuanese yet...i am sure i'll love it, but i'll hv to watch out for the heat nowadays ^_^

Tami said...

Now I'm really hungry! This dish looks delicious!

ICook4Fun said...

Rita, I love Szechuan food as like spicy food :)

Tami, thank you :)

Little Chef said...

Absolutely tempting!

I will try it once I can locate Sze Chuan Pepper corns.

Thanks for sharing!

ICook4Fun said...

Little chef, you are most welcome.

eatingclubvancouver_js said...

This looks delicious! Spicy, spicy, spicy is yummy, yummy, yummy.

Shannon said...

I'm having tons of fun cooking with your recipes!!!!

Anonymous said...

10 dried chillies were too many for us and we like things hot!! Absolutely gorgeous recipe though - will be cooking it again but with 5 chillies instead! :) thanks!

Faisal said...

OH MY GOD.... We made this the other day and it was absolutely delicious... The only thing we did different was not to add salt and the Soy Sauce at the last stage of the mixing with the green onions... we like it dry and less salty.... This is one of our favorite dishes in the house... Love it

brizorro said...

Just tried your recipe tonight - everyone found it yummy! Love that szechuan pepper aroma/taste. I added dark soya sauce and some roasted cashew. My son's only complaint was it needed more sauce.

Unknown said...

This looks very similar to my favourite food at my favourite chinese restaurant, peppercorn chicken with noodles. They seem to cook the whole breast of chicken in the coating and then slice it into thin strips. I don't think they add the soy sauce as it's quite crispy and the chicken is moist, it's cooked with onions, chillis and spring onion. Will definitely give this a try. Thanks so much.

Munira Mohamad said...

I wanna buy the sichuan pepercorns. Where can i get that? I don't even know where to find it...

Munira Mohamad said...

Where can i get the sichuan pepercorns? I don't even know where to find it. It looks yummy when i see the chefs cooked with it...

ICook4Fun said...

Munira, I am not sure where you live but if it is oversea you can get it at the Asian grocery stores and if you are in Malaysia just go to those Chinese Medicine Hall and they will have it. Some big supermarket do carry it too. Check out the spice section.

steve said...

Absolutely delicious. The szechuan peppercorns numbed my mouth but gave the dish a delicious flavor.