Sichuan chilli chicken

Your ingredients

Get ready: Stable deep saucepan, oil thermometer, food thermometer, rack and separate wok.

• 🍗400 g boneless chicken thigh, small cubes
• 🥬Marinade: 6 ginger slices and 1 spring onion in sections
• 💧Marinade: 1 tsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp unsalted stock, ¼ tsp salt and pinch white pepper
• 🥣About 500 ml neutral frying oil, adjusted safely to your pan
• 🥣15–30 g dried chillies, or less to taste
• 🥬1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
• 🥣8 ginger slices
• 🥣4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 🍯Finish: 1 tsp light soy sauce, pinch sugar and 1 tsp unsalted stock
• 🥜1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
• 🥬1 spring onion, sliced

Let’s make it

1. Marinate and prepare

   Mix chicken with the marinade and chill for 20 minutes. Remove the ginger and spring onion pieces before frying. Cut dried chillies in half and shake out seeds if you want less heat. Wash hands after handling chillies.

2. Fry carefully

   Use a stable deep saucepan no more than one-third full of oil and a thermometer. With experienced help if needed, fry chicken in small batches at 160°C until lightly golden, then briefly fry again at 180°C to crisp. Check chicken reaches 75°C for 30 seconds rather than relying on colour alone. Drain.

3. Bloom the spices

   In a separate wok, use 1 tablespoon of frying oil once safely measured, or fresh oil. Gently fry ginger, garlic and Sichuan pepper, then add dried chillies. Keep the heat moderate so they smell fragrant rather than burn.

4. Toss and finish

   Add cooked chicken, finishing soy sauce, sugar and stock. Toss for about 2 minutes, then add sesame and sliced spring onion. You control the chilli quantity: start lower and learn your own heat level.