Xinjiang Big Plate Chicken (Dapanji)

Ingredients

• Sichuan peppercorns, bay leaves, black cardamom, dried long chilies, garlic, leek-type scallion
• Oil, salt, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, cooking wine (beer works too), white sugar
• Chicken (thigh meat is best), potatoes, green and red bell peppers (optional, but they add nice color)

Steps

1. Chop the chicken into chunks, soak in water with salt for 5 minutes to remove blood and odor, then drain
2. Wash the scallion, garlic, chilies and potatoes, and peel the potatoes
3. Cut the scallion whites into 4 cm lengths; cut the bell peppers and long chilies into pieces
4. Roll-cut the potatoes: make a cut, roll the potato a little, and cut again, so each piece is about 4cm*4cm
5. Caramelize the sugar: add oil to the wok, then the white sugar, and stir back and forth with a spatula until it melts and turns golden brown; then add the drained chicken and stir-fry to color it
6. Add the Sichuan peppercorns, bay leaves, black cardamom and dried chilies and stir-fry
7. Add 5g salt, 7ml light soy sauce, 10g oyster sauce and 100g cooking wine, and pour in 1 liter of water; beer can replace the cooking wine
8. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then turn to medium-low and simmer so the flavors soak in
9. When the liquid has reduced until the chicken is almost exposed, lay the potatoes on top: do not stir them, just leave them on the surface, or they will stick to the bottom. Cover and keep simmering; after a while add the scallion and bell peppers and keep simmering.
10. When the sauce is nearly reduced, turn everything over so the potatoes soak up the sauce, then turn off the heat and serve.
11. Also: this goes great with noodles. Buy thick dough pieces, flatten them and pull them by hand into wide noodles (they must be wide); once cooked, add them to the big plate chicken and toss with the sauce for amazing flavor!