La Zi Ji

Method

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1. Mix the chicken with the wine, soy sauce, salt, white pepper and egg white and leave 20 minutes.

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2. Toss the chicken in the cornflour until every piece is coated, shaking off the excess.

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3. Heat the oil to 160C and fry the chicken in batches 4 minutes, until pale gold. Lift out onto a rack.

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4. Raise the oil to 190C and fry the chicken again, in batches, 90 seconds, until deep gold and crisp. Drain.

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5. Pour off all but 4 tbsp of the oil.

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6. Over medium heat, add the dried chillies and Sichuan peppercorns and toast 60 seconds, until fragrant and a shade darker. Take the pan off the heat if they threaten to blacken.

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7. Add the garlic and ginger for 30 seconds.

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8. Return the chicken, add the sugar and salt, and toss hard over high heat 1 minute.

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9. Finish with the sesame oil, sesame seeds and spring onions. Serve, and eat around the chillies.

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Chef’s Tips

• Pull the pan the second the chillies darken. Burnt chillies are unfixable.
• Fry twice — 160C then 190C.
• Whole chillies, not flakes. It is aroma, not raw heat.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
• A pinch of dried chilli flakes works in place of fresh chilli — start with about a third of the quantity the red chillies in the list implies, since dried chilli is more concentrated, and add more to taste.
• A quarter-teaspoon of ground ginger per tablespoon of fresh is the standard ratio if you are working from the spice rack rather than a fresh root.

Pairing Suggestions

• Steamed rice
• A cold beer
• Something cooling alongside

Storage & Reheating

Best immediately. Refrigerated 2 days and re-crisped in a hot oven.

Common questions

Nutritional Highlights

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list. Treat these as an estimate — brands and cuts vary.