“Also known as ‘strange-flavour chicken’, bang bang chicken gets its name from the sound of a mallet pounding a piece of chicken on a chopping board,” says Tony Tan. “A popular dish from Sichuan, it’s essentially poached chicken dressed with a nutty, hot and numbing sauce.”
Ingredients
Dressing
Salad
Method
1.Place the stock and Shaoxing rice wine in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Rub the chicken with salt and poach in the simmering stock until just tender (15-20 minutes). Remove from the stock (reserve stock for another use) and cool.
2.Whisk the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and season to taste with salt.
3.Beat the chicken lightly with a rolling pin or mallet to loosen the fibres. Using your fingers, shred the chicken into long strips along the grain. Transfer to a serving plate, add the salad ingredients and toss to combine. Drizzle with dressing to taste and sprinkle with sesame seeds or peanuts and sliced chilli. Serve with extra dressing on the side.
Chinese roasted sesame paste is available from select Asian grocers. If you don’t have any, use tahini.This recipe from Hong Kong Food City by Tony Tan (Murdoch Books, $49.99) has been reproduced with minor GT style changes.
Notes