Three-Cup Chicken (San Bei Ji)

I posted a Taiwanese three-cup chicken recipe not so long ago. Today, I will share this recipe using drumsticks and revise some ingredients.  I like this recipe because it reminds me of the classic "red-cooked” chicken or pork dish of Northern China. The three-cup is named because it commonly uses equal quantities of soy sauce, sesame oil, and Shao Hsing wine-the Chinese cooking wine. In this recipe, I use less sesame oil and add more water instead, and it turns out better tasting than the Taiwanese three cups chicken.  However, the taste can be adjusted for each personal cook to make his or her own signature

Ingredients:

10 chicken drumsticks, skin removed (your choice)

6 garlic cloves, minced

10 slices of fresh ginger then chopped

5 whole dried pepper, more or less

1 tsp black pepper

2 tbs peanut oil

Stable sauce ingredients:

1 cup water

1 cup cooking wine, Shao Hsing or sake*

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup sweet soy sauce

1/4 cup sesame oil

1/4 cup honey

Garnish with 4 green onions

Directions:

Soak chicken drumsticks in a large bowl filled with water, salt (2 tbs), and vinegar. This method will make the chicken meat clean and tender.

Heat a large pan with oil. Brown the chickens on all sides. Remove chicken from pan and discard most of the oil. Keep about 1 tbs of oil. However, I remove skin from chicken so it will not leave much oil

Add ginger, garlic, and chilli and stirfry for 1 minute or until fragrant.

Add stable sauce and chicken to the pan and bring to boil. Stir to submerge the chicken with sauce. Cover and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes or until chickens is tender. Add green onions and make a quick stir for 1 minute.

Serve chicken with rice and some sauce. The leftover sauce as most of Chinese chefs call the "master sauce". This sauce can be stored in the freezer and reused as many times as necessary in future Chinese cooking.

*Sake has a stronger taste than Shao Hsing wine. Adjust the amount used to fit your taste.

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