Deep-Fried Szechuan Chicken (Bone-In) with Garlic, Onion and Hot Chili
 

Question for you, Karen.

Today I stopped by my local chinese restaurant to pick up an order of my absolutely favorite dish of all time. The name is Deep-Fried Szechuan Chicken (Bone-In) with Garlic, Onion and Hot Chili . I have no clue how it is made, other than the obvious "take a chicken, cut it up and deep fry".. hehe

The colour is quite orangey-red, it is quite hot, skin is still on, you see little circles of hot pepper in it... but other than that, I don't know.

It *may* be coated in flour or cornstarch before frying, judging from the consistency, but it doesn't float in a sauce.. more like it was marinated with the hot stuff?

Any ideas how I might reproduce this, LC-style, with so little info? The good folks who run the restaurant don't speak much English and I kinda doubt they'd share the recipe, even if they did.

Nope! :D

I would have to look at it and taste it to figure it out. It does sound like cornstarch is used if the chili is adhered to the skin.

Where and what's the name of the restaurant?

Karen

Karen, It's Wah Lai Garden on North Road in Burnaby. #201 - 4501 North Road, to be precise. A "standard" kind of Chinese Restaurant, but some of the dishes are really good. Phone number there is 604-420-9090 and they do deliver.

Well, I just used up the rest of it, along with some plain chicken, in the Cauli-Flied Rice recipe on this site. Man, was it *ever* good... nice & spicy :)

Well, that's a little out of my jurisdiction because I live in Gastown! If I am in the area, I'll check it out because I love spicy food.

Karen

Cool, that would be great. If you let me know when you might be in the area, I'll join ya!!

I used the leftover chicken in your Cauli-Flied rice tonight. It was delish!! Nice and spicy :)

OK jean. Here's a quick rundown of what's in it...

First find a prepared chili sauce/paste that has garlic and black beans in it. Add artificial sweetener to taste and if it's not that sour, just a touch of vinegar. I would deep fry the chicken - skinless - without any coating on it, but you can roll it in oat flour. When it's done, just toss it in the hot sauce.

I was considering a suce from scratch - which is where the xanthan gum would have come in - but buying a prepared sauce is easier. Just check the label to make sure there's no sugar in it.

You could also marinate the chicken in it overnight and then bake it, finishing it off under the broilier. In this instance I would leave the skin on. Same flavour, less hassle.

Karen

Hmmm how did I miss this post?

I have a Hot Garlic, Ginger & Chili paste here, made by Derlea. No black bean in it, but maybe I can add some. Ingredients are (in order) ginger, garlic, chili, vinegar, water, soybean oil, potassium sorbate. It says 1 tsp = 1 tsp fresh (??) Hoping that the combo of this + black bean might do. How did you come up with the black bean? I'm amazed! Wouldn't have thought of that myself.

I like the idea of marinating it overnight, but then again, the crispness of deep frying.. hmmm I don't have a deep fryer, but wondering if I marinated it and then fried in a deepish frying pan? The left over oil would be tasty, that's for sure. But I wonder how much of the coating/marinade would stay on the chicken.

Well, experimentation will probly wait till I get back from PG.