Chongqing Chicken with Chillies

Ingredients

• 600g boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 3 tbsp potato starch
• 700ml neutral oil, for frying
• 60g dried Sichuan chillies, snipped in half
• 2 tbsp whole Sichuan peppercorns
• 6 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 thumb ginger, sliced
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 3 spring onions, cut into 3cm lengths

Before you cook

• Cut the chicken thighs into bite-sized cubes, leaving the skin on for crispness
• Mix the chicken with Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, salt and grated ginger and marinate for twenty minutes
• Snip the dried chillies in half and shake out most of the seeds so they toast rather than burn
• Toss the marinated chicken with the potato starch just before frying

Steps

1. Heat the frying oil in a wok to 170C.
2. Fry the chicken in two batches for about four minutes each, until golden and cooked through, then drain it on kitchen paper.
3. Raise the oil temperature to 195C.
4. Return all the chicken to the oil for a second fry of ninety seconds, until the crust is deep gold and audibly crisp.
5. Lift the chicken out and drain it well.
6. Pour off all but three tablespoons of the oil and set the wok over medium-low heat.
7. Add the Sichuan peppercorns and stir for twenty seconds until they smell citrusy.
8. Add the dried chillies and stir constantly for about ninety seconds, until they darken a shade and the air turns sharp.
9. Add the sliced garlic and ginger and stir for thirty seconds.
10. Tip the chicken back in with the sugar and toss hard for one minute so every piece picks up the chilli fragrance.
11. Add the spring onions and sesame seeds and toss once more.
12. Turn out onto a platter and remind everyone that the chillies are there for aroma, not for eating.