Chicken with hot chile paste

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
8 Chinese dried black mushrooms
1 pounds Boned chicken; dark or light meat
1 tablespoon Dry sherry
1 Egg white
1 teaspoon Sugar
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
2 tablespoons Chile paste with garlic..or more; beware!
¼ cup Water or stock
1 tablespoon Light soy sauce
½ cup Peanut oil
1 cup Shredded bamboo shoots
2 tablespoons Shredded ginger root
½ cup Shredded carrot
1 teaspoon Chopped habanero; (one whole chopped hab)
1 tablespoon Cornstarch mixed with 3 tbls of water
Sesame oil to taste

Directions

Here is another Hot Chinese Recipe from Szechuan Province. This one uses a very hot chile paste, available at a Chinese grocery store made by Lee Kum Kee, Chile paste with garlic. It is incredibly hot, dont have any idea what kind of chiles they are using, but they are HOT! This dish also makes use of another Chinese cooking trick, the slippery marinade, comprised of sherry(or Chinese cooking wine),egg white, cornstarch and sesame oil, which is the reason that chicken pieces done at a good chinese restaurant taste the way they do. Have fun with this recipe, a wok is almost an essential, and they are so inexpensive at a Chinese market. Get a carbon steel one, and then season it thusly...first scrub with detergent and steel wool, then rinse well, put it in the oven to completely dry, then rub peanut oil all around it on the inside, then heat it over high heat, until it gets black..wipe it out when it cools, and re-oil..that's it, it will get blacker with time and use, and eventually be completely non stick.

Soak the dried mushrooms in very hot water for 30 minutes until soft.

Remove and discard the stems, and shred the mushrooms. Chop the chicken into bite size pieces and set aside. Lightly beat the egg white, add the sherry, half the sugar and the cornstarch, mix well and add the chicken...place in the fridge, this can be done several hours before the cooking process, in fact it is better if you do. In a small bowl, combine the chile paste, water, soy sauce and the remaining sugar...set this aside.

Cooking: Heat a wok or large skillet over high, until a drop of water sizzles, maintain high heat throughout the cooking process. Add the peanut oil, and just before it starts to smoke, add the chicken pieces after giving them a stir in the marinade..stir fry for about a minute, until the chicken begins to brown slightly, and remove the chicken. Drain off all but about 2 tbls of oil, re-heat the wok, and add the bamboo shoots, mushrooms, carrots, and the habs, stir fry for about one minute, then add the chile paste mixture, stir fry this in and add the reserved cooked chicken, stir fry another minute, thicken with the cornstarch mixture, add about 1 tbls of sesame oil,stir around and serve...this will serve two with other Chinese dishes, rice or-and a vegetable dish...one of those tomorrow Posted to CHILE-HEADS DIGEST by Doug Irvine <dirvin@...> on May 29, 1998

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