SAN BEI JI

SAN BEI JI

#SIAintheKitchen

I’ve always wanted to make San Bei ji - Taiwanese three cup chicken. It’s been mentally bookmarked in my mind for maybe about 2 years now. I always have these ingredients on-hand so I’m not sure why I’ve never actually made it before…until now! Yay!

What intrigued me about this dish was not only its simplicity but the flavours. The dish centres on three different sauces - dark soy sauce, regular soy sauce and rice wine. Although each Chinese or Taiwanese family has their own recipe, I made my own. I read a couple different recipes and they are more or less the same with varying proportions for the sauces.

Speaking of which, I LOVED the sauce. The sauce boils down into a nice reduction and becomes this nice, sticky savoury sauce. The combination of the soy sauces - dark for colour and regular soy sauce, for that classic umami kick - paired with the rice wine almost reminds me of a shiitake mushroom flavour. It’s so rich. Because it is initially cooked with fragrant ginger, tons of garlic cloves, and sesame oil, the flavours really fill your house with an intoxicating aroma - so, so good. Tie that all in with fresh basil and white rice, this dish is certainly going to become a regular in my cooking repertoire.

SAN BEI JI - makes 2 - 4 servings (adapted from Serious Eats)

• 3 tbsp vegetable oil

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1/2 tsp dried red chili flakes

• 1 head of garlic, whole cloves

• 2” knob of ginger, peeled and sliced

• 6 chicken drumsticks, skin-on

• 1/2 cup rice wine

• 4 tbsp dark soy sauce

• 2 tbsp soy sauce

• 1/4 cup water

• 4 tbsp brown sugar

• dash white pepper

• freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

• 1 bunch fresh thai basil, leaves only

1. In a large wok, heat the vegetable and sesame oils together over medium-high heat until glistening. Add in the garlic, ginger and chili flakes and fry until fragrant and the garlic begins to brown slightly, about 2 minutes.

2. Add in the chicken drumsticks and brown on each side. Pour in all of the sauces - rice wine, dark soy, regular soy, water, and brown sugar. Cover with bamboo and lower the heat to low and allow the chicken to cook. Rotate and stir every 5 minutes, for about 15 - 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked.

3. Remove the chicken and bring up the heat to a boil to allow for the sauce to reduce into a glaze. Season with peppers and and the chicken back once you have reached the desired consistency. The sauce should coat the chicken and should be glistening. Stir in the basil leaves until fully coated. The basil should wilt. Serve with white jasmine rice.