How to Make Laziji, Sichuan Spicy Chicken (辣子鸡)

[@matthewbrown7170]

I made this the other day. It was phenomenal. Thank you a million times over for taking the time to produce and publish this video, and write up the reddit thread. I grew up in China for 19 years and came back to the States for college. I've been back 11 years and have literally ordered it all over America, and the world, since to see if I could find legit dishes. Also tried making it several times and had some Chinese friends try and teach me, but their methods were fine but not great. La zi ji is literally my favorite dish in the entire world, and I love a lot of different cuisines. The recipe took me about 3 hours to make-with kids running around-45 minutes of which were just cutting the 100 grams of chili peppers with scissors and then, the worst, deseeding them all. I didn't care a bit. If this was legit, I had to make it. I must admit I was out of peanut oil and substituted vegetable oil; my wife got rid of the wok and msg a few years ago; and the oil never got nearly hot enough, even though it was on a gas stove, partially because the oil wasn't concentrated at the bottom like with the wok, and probably also because the flames could never reach China size. But for full disclosure, I was missing a couple parts to this recipe; yet it turned out phenomenal. So good that it was actually better than many versions of la zi ji that I've had in China, in spite of my missing ingredients. I teared up. My wife was almost mad at me because she says I've only cried like five times ever (not true; Cast Away gets me every time). This la zi ji was that good. And the fact that I can make this dish in my own home now, instead of paying for and eating disappointing la zi ji everywhere else, is one of the best gifts I could ever receive. Thank you. This is saved in my files, and I will be making it for the rest of my life.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Hey man, sorry for not getting back to you sooner... was tearing my hair out trying to edit/write our most recent stir fry 101 recipe haha. Awesome to hear this recipe scratched that itch. In hindsight, we've learned a bit more about Sichuan cuisine since this video and there's a couple things that could further elevate this guy into 'what you'd find in Sichuan' territory if you're curious. I think the core of this version of the dish Adam actually learned working part time with Peter Chang in Virginia, so the coating itself might be a slightly Americanized twist, I feel. That said, the seasoning was totally on point. Of course, the longer we do this channel, the more obsessive we get lol. Where were you living in China when you were growing up here? Expat kid?

[@mattbrown2282]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified not at all, was just wanting to let you know how great your video was. I'm always interested in getting more authenticity out of a dish, I'm all ears if you've got some updates. Yeah I'm an expat kid, grew up in Xiamen. We had a lot of sichuan migrants who opened up restaurants in the city (a lot of everywhere-migrants, really), and there were a couple restaurants my friends and I found to be super great. Are you still in China?

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Yep, been in Shenzhen for the last... eleven years now? Been to Xiamen twice, haven't explored the city too much. You ever swing back over to China at all? If you're interested in getting the dish a little closer, chop the chicken pieces a little smaller, don't bother with the coating, and deep fry for longer... ~5 minutes... at a slightly lower temp (~165C?) until the chicken looks visibly crispy and dried. This version's still awesome, but that'll get you a bit closer to Sichuan :)

[@matthewbrown7170]

​@@ChineseCookingDemystified ​ Man, thanks for the extra tips! I'll try that next time. Surprised about leaving the coating off but it kind of makes sense. Eleven years in Sichuan! Heck of a long time. What's led you there? Besides the world's best food? I haven't been back in six years. I'm married with kids now and my overseas flying takes me to Europe and Africa these days (I run a non-profit water service in Uganda). Not enough time! Some day I'll make the trip again.

[@matthewbrown7170]

Ok, a year later and I’ve made this a few more times but only just remembered your suggestion about leaving off the coating and just frying it longer. I did that yesterday and it’s a lot better! The flavor soaks in more and it tastes more “chickeny.” I also got a wok again, and I’ve been letting the oil get as hot as it can before sticking the chicken cubes in, after which they sizzle like crazy, which is great. Cooks a lot better. So good!!!

[@orangewedges]

My roommate in Beijing made me order this for him ALL THE TIME. He loved this dish so much, going through, at minimum, two orders in one sitting.

[@graphene1487]

Any news from your roommate's colon? Holler back.

[@KFCJones]

Hide and seek chicken? I seriously thought you were supposed to eat all the peppers too. They must think I'm some kind of hero/idiot down at the Szechuan restaurant I go to.

[@ghostbearlabs]

I first ordered this thing as a broke student, not knowing what the words I was pointing to on the menu meant, and when the 50/50 ratio of chicken to chilis arrived at my table, I decided that I was going to have to "get my money's worth" and eat all of it. I am really glad to know that that's not how it's supposed to be consumed.

[@KFCJones]

I feel that

[@teslashark]

@@ghostbearlabs DETERMINATION as expected from a broke student

[@lilguava70]

I worked at a Sichuan Chinese place for a while. I would occasionally get a few people who insisted that they enjoyed eating the tough, borderline-inedible chilis. I honor your dedication, you are not alone 😂

[@FaroushJinal]

i know you're not supposed to eat them but i still do. i need that fire within me. lol.

[@some5672]

2 tbsp oil that was at least a cup :/

[@IcedCupcakes]

Msg to scare away all your hippy friends lol

[@quietlionwhp2609]

Love it

[@MisterBones2910]

@@KevinJDildonik There was a small element of xenophobia with the MSG scare but you're way overblowing it.

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

XD:::::: Crying of joy.

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

@太阳Sol As long as it's not gutter oil... I eat.

[@alexvids9232]

@@PandemoniumMeltDown ^

[@MassiveReactive]

Literally just watched OTR's documentary on chilli peppers, searched up a recipe for this dish, found your video, and 20 seconds into it, there's Adam, EL OH EL

[@parkermcannally1505]

Dude. I just made and ate this. And it's just unrealistically delicious - everything I wanted it to be and more. Thank you so much for the recipe

[@derekhargest5630]

im obsessed with this recipe and make this maybe once a week. I ordered 'sichuan chicken with hot peppers', it was an immediate new favorite food. I looked for a long time before I found out what it was really called and this is probably the best version i've found. Thanks for your time and effort on this one!

[@bobsmith372]

this recipe is great. However i was NOT going to make this dish until i figured out a legit way to reuse the chiles because i will NOT waste them. After making the dish(it was a truly amazing experience) i rinsed the chiles in water, dried the ground them into a powder and made chile oil. Some would argue that would result in weak flavored chile oil. BUT i had a LOT of leftover chiles and used minimal oil so that made up for the flavor. I understand this wouldnt work in a restaurant, but it is the perfect solution for cooking this at home. Great recipe, thank you.

[@ChefChrisDay]

Fairly certain this is the dish I've been wondering about for weeks now. A local Sichuan/Szechuan restaurant near me has a dish they call Dry Chicken with Szechuan Flavors and the only difference for them is that they put the chilis in the dredge and get them so they get crispy like the chicken. My girlfriend and I can't stop talking about it. Also a side note they have a dish called Wen Jun Chicken. Szechuan peppercorns, dark soy, black vinegar, red peppers, asparagus ginger, garlic, scallion and sesame oil I believe. One of my favorites of you guys have any insight! I've tried to deconstruct with limited success.

[@schievel6047]

I really love that dish. I ate it in china and now I am trying to cook it at home. Thanks for sharing the recipe, I see that you like the "in your face"-attitude of laziji as much as I do. Although I don't agree with you in one part: I think coke goes really well with laziji. When I am back in Beijing I will visit your restaurant

[@TheTrifaced]

"MSG to help scare away your hippy friends" LOL that was the moment I subscribed

[@raphaellejoriot8527]

i worked with the written recipe of this video. worked out great was so yummy. i dont have a super duper powerful stove so i just had to cook it a little longer on the final step. but was deliciousssss !! thank you so much guys !

[@dxelson]

Love the enthusians your friend has! Should come up more often haha

[@ellmatic]

0:31 "pretty much exactly this" haha - a chef will never divulge *all* of his/her secrets...

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Haha nah it's different mostly because Adam usually serves it boneless and sans mountain-of-chilis in his bar/restaurant (which is one of those made-for-expats sort of places). He saw what we were trying to do with this channel and agreed that we'd have to try to do it the more proper way on the bone/with more chilis than chicken lol

[@Ninjamonkey474]

​@@ChineseCookingDemystified What would you do without the mountain of chilis that would keep it similarly spicy?

[@kennytjong]

CCD: Now we deep fry the peanut in peanut oil. Peanut: So now you are frying me in myself?

[@Sshooter444]

MSG is Hippy Kryptonite! LOL

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

I've decided to rename MSG "all natural purified seaweed crystals" from now on in our videos, you think we could get em on American health food store shelves?

[@triratna1397]

Fucking Baizuo.

[@Smoothbluehero]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified Literally call them by their Japanese name, Aji no Moto, and weebs will be all over it

[@bartvanderoordt510]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified i do this the other way around im calling all kinds of things like salt and msg by their chemical name and cooking sounds scary to everyone

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

@@Smoothbluehero Hey, I have Aji No Moto... wait...

[@mattmoreno7596]

This looks awesome, and way more like the laziji i order at restaurants than the other recipes I've found online. Thanks for posting.

[@Magic-Man]

This man was so enthusiastic about this meal that I HAVE to make it now. DO IT FOR HIM.

[@asifsba1]

I remember eating this and loving this in Sichuan restaurants in Beijing. Thank you for posting.

[@c.h.1073]

3:38 '2 tbsp oil' my ass XD

[@houchi69]

You forgot to convert it into Chinese measurements ;-)

[@larswesterhausen7262]

Go big or eat underwhelming Laziji.

[@fabulousk9014]

thats what i thought, its more like 500ml

[@larswesterhausen7262]

K for the Win Big country, big spoons. Anyway, Chinese are not afraid of oil. Use less, if you think you must, if not add some more. It's just there for frying, you don't eat all of that anyway.

[@triratna1397]

Oh, But it will literally oil' your ass.

[@saadalhaddad4055]

Thank you for this wonderful channel, already made about 10 recipes and I started to have a great passion to Chinese cuisine. Can you kindly make a video about how to cut a chicken in small pieces with bones in. Thanking you in anticipation.

[@spencerbixby7819]

I have a Szechuan place 2 blocks down the street from me that does this dish with skin on. Every few weeks I find myself grabbing a cold 6 pack and this dish. Garlic, ginger, crispy, spicy and beer is hard to beat.

[@roberthardy7892]

"Heat on high two tablespoons of peanut or vegetable oil..." bruh how big are the tablespoons in China?

[@MrCidVicious]

Yeah I saw that too and I was like that has to be at least 1.25 cups thrown in there

[@alandaniel1082]

what no sesame oil still i love this dish thanks for a great channel and easy to follow recipes great job

[@abydosianchulac2]

So, possibly stupid question: I've read through the comments, but haven't seen anyone ask, how different is the dish if you *don't* use that many chilis? I don't mean completely omit them, but it's it just a matter of less heat/spice?

[@burhan8795]

I have eaten this dish so much in China. Really great

[@Maxischupp93]

i cooked several versions of this over the years, but this is my favorite, its one of the simpler ones but just as tasty, which makes it superior in my book :D greetings from Munich, Germany

[@seamasaccounts4363]

Death metal reference made me laugh out loud. Great episode!

[@bowenzhou5264]

I tried a local ( authentic sichuanese ) restaurant's version of this dish .. their menu is quite strong ( includes aeveral Yunnan dishes too ) .. i discovered there , the one ingredient that I have to say is not supported by Adam's "all-out" on the seasoning , is salt , too much salt will kill this dish. If it is dry enough , and not too salty , Laziji chicken would make a really good snack for watching a ball game or movie on TV imo.

[@speks_coaster_crap7415]

I never comment on things but thank you for this recipe (and your many others). They have helped me elevate my cooking and keep me sane in These Times. After watching a bunch of your videos and recently enjoying Laziji again at my local spot, I noticed that it definitely included some douchi and I think there was some ya cai in there too. Have you heard of these used in Laziji recipes, and if so, at what point would they hit the wok?

[@Vazcular]

I've always eaten all the chilis. I worked for years at a Chinese restaurant and just like the taste of them in certain dishes. They aren'ta garnish in many cases. You are supposed to eat them in many dishes. Hot oil from those Chili's is what's used to make dishes spicy!

[@benzuckerman]

I realize that I have already commented, but I just watched this again, and I have to say that I think it is really awesome that there is an American that has opened a restaurant in Sichuan. I also found the comment at 4:45 about adding cold water to the oil helping to crisp up the chicken to be really interesting, and I am wondering if this isn't some kind of "magic secret" that restaurants use so that their fried chicken pieces are crispier than the ones you make at home.... I am also curious as to what the eggplant recipe is that he referred to, since I LOVE Chinese eggplant dishes. Anyway, awesome video, and thanks again. Chinese Cooking Demystified (CCD) has fast become one of my favorite channels on KZbin. I am sure that if you are patient, the "likes", "views", and "subscribers" will all start climbing fast. As they say, cream rises, and this is definitely the cream of the crop!

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Cheers, yeah, honestly I still have zero clue why that would work... seems like the opposite of what would make sense to me personally ;). Regardless, the dish is called 'fengwei eggplant' or "风味茄子". And thanks for the kind words... we don't have any huge delusions of grandeur, we've been really happy with the growth so far. Lemme know if you ever find yourself in Shenzhen, I buy you a beer!

[@benzuckerman]

Shenzhen is high on my list, so it may happen sooner rather than later!

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Let us know when/if you're in this part of the world! We often like to go to Guangzhou/Shunde/Hong Kong too, we're always also available for restaurant recommendation as well haha

[@benzuckerman]

Thanks - I will look forward to it!

[@deathpyre42]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified Speaking of which, you planning on doing fengwei eggplant, or has it already been done?

[@simondenzel5186]

This looks mouth-wateringly amazing. It seems to have the same flavour profile as a dish I had years ago from a street restaurant in Shenzhen. They had tanks with live fish, you took your pick and it came back a little while later cooked and heaped with chillies and peanuts. I've been looking for a recipe ever since, do you guys have any suggestions? Keep up the great work!

[@uasj2]

Wow loved this recipe. It will give me the confidence to cook something similar. I recently had a really excellent Sichuan lamb dish with about 1/5 of the volume of dried chilli you used here and yet eating it was similarly a case of picking out the meat and veg and leaving most of the chilli to avoid causing physiological damage! I thought then that I’d love to cook something similar and now I can...

[@ezralimm]

pro tip: use chicken thigh with skin on the pieces. Thigh does not get dry like breast...and the deep fried skin with this dish is the ultimate beer food imho. Also the chillies can be coated in the spice mix and deep fried as well - then the chilli becomes edible and crispy. After finisheing the dish, use the excess chillies to pound them up and fry with cashews. It's amazing. Yes I finish the chillies as well.

[@sohamdey175]

stupid question but do i only eat the chicken or do i eat everything on the plate?

[@olliefoggitt7800]

Are those chillis dried??

[@WannabeCanadianDev]

I love the subtle shade.

[@dont_talk2me]

MSG to scare away your hippie friends . LOL!!best quote ever.

[@Mk927]

I've made this 3 times now. Every time, the chicken is crispy and delicious after frying, but once I combine it with all the other ingredients at the end, it gets soggy and wet to the point where I might as well not have fried it in the first place. Do I not have enough heat? Or maybe I'm adding too much water from the ice bath

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Ok, so a couple things. This was Adam's recipe which I'm pretty sure was mostly developed from his time working at the Sichuan restaurant in Virginia. It's tasty as all hell, but in the time since this video we've gotten a little more hardcore about replicating the *exact* technique that's used for whatever the dish we're making. He's a trained chef though (we're not), so we've been hesitant to throw up a stickied comment here. So first off, you might want to try the frying method that's, well, used in Sichuan. Usually this is deep fried with NO coating. Marinate your chicken using a standard marinade of salt (let's go with 1 tsp), soy sauce (1 tbsp), liaojiu (2 tbsp), and cornstarch (2 tbsp). Mix well then coat with a bit of oil. No need for the long marinade - half hour should be fine. Deep fry the chicken pieces at a lower temperature (150C) for about 10 minutes or til they dry out. Then deep fry again real quick (1 min or so) at that hotter 190C temp. This video is a good illustration of the technique: kzbin.info/www/bejne/epPHfoSAjaZ8paMm18s (Chinese w/ Eng subs, might also just be a decent recipe to try) Now, if you're opting for Adam's method, I think heat/wok size can be a variable - as we said in the reddit post, the batch we did for this video was good but less crispy than our aesthetic ideal... led us to go out and buy a much needed newer, bigger wok and the dish was much better the next time Adam was in town. Be sure not to crowd the Wok like was done here - work in batches if using this sized wok. Second, even while Adam swears by the technique I can't for the life of me figure out the science of 'cold water hitting hot oil with ingredients = crispy skin' besides what I pontificated in the comments here (those herbs absorbing the excess oil) - try skipping that step. Lastly, instead of adding the fried chicken pieces near the beginning of the stir-fry, try adding it at the very end - usually for coated deep fried dishes we've learned that they're usually the last step of the stir-fry. Good luck, and sorry for the confusion!

[@Mk927]

Damn dude, thanks for such a quick and thorough reply. Really appreciate the tips, I'll definitely try it tonight when I make it again. I saw you mention your super-long replies in the Reddit thread, but I love how you get so into it man! Also - which Sichuan restaurant in Virginia?? I only know of this dish due to this amazing Chinese place I used to go to when I lived in Delaware, but I've never seen this dish in any other restaurant. If it's in northern VA I'll definitely have to make a trip.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

So if I remember the story correctly, Adam was an early devotee of Peter Chang (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Chang_(chef) ). At the time Adam was the cook at a classic sort of college bar in Charlotteville and had gone to Shenzhen to visit a girlfriend of his doing a year teaching English back in 07 (where he fell in love with a Sichuan restaurant here in Shenzhen called Bashufeng). Around the same time Chang had a restaurant in Charlottesville, and IIRC Adam basically offered to do odd jobs part time for free because he was just obsessed with Sichuan food. According to wikipedia, Chang bounced around a bit and has his own place, though they they don't seem to have laziji on the menu lol peterchangarlington.com I've never been there so this isn't a recommendation, but the pictures do look solid

[@Mk927]

Maybe it's on the hidden authentic menu :) Thanks man!

[@adamgottschalk2923]

Hey, this is Adam, a couple things you can do to remedy this: obviously the first choice is to increase the heat; but if that isn't possible, use smaller pieces of chicken (smaller pieces stay crispy), and also if you're having crispyness issues, it tends to crisp up when it's out of the wok for a couple of minutes, but obviously not if you've put it straight into a serving bowl....dump it from the wok onto a baking pan or something so it all gets equal oxygen and doesn't get saturated in moisture, let it sit for a couple of minutes, then pour it into a bowl. I do not think this is an authentic Sichuan restaurant technique...hah! But almost none of us have access to the insane heat Chinese restaurants use in their kitchens or even in homes in that region, so we have to improvise.

[@Chef_PC]

Read this as Lazy Sichuan Spicy Chicken and assumed it was a recipe made just for me.

[@kevngu7256]

What you mean by more sugar after putting in the sugar?

[@kln9646]

just a little chili, maybe more, just a little more, yeah just a little more. ok, maybe some more chili, just a little more, that's it. Wait, some more chili until the whole thing is chili. Cant even see the chicken.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

... and now you understand the essence of the dish :)

[@504Diva]

looks amazing. ur enthusiasmabout this dish makes me want to try it even more Thanks

[@Danatoth-]

Oh I'd be eating all those chilis too haha. The spicier the better, I have no limit. I want to make this so bad!

[@farajaraf]

I get a version at one of my local Chinese spots. They told me not to eat the chili’s but i do and i love it, goes great on rice.

[@satoshiketchump]

I had this with my friends at a Sichuanese hotpot restaurant in Kathmandu. Though the flavors were good, the salt in it was wayyyy too much and plus, we really had to play hide and seek to find little pieces of chicken under a mound of chillies. Everyone was disappointed at the miniscule amount of chicken in comparison to it's high price 😅

[@benliu9956]

Sichuanese dishes like this one tend to use more salt and chilli because it’s a regional cuisine inside Sichuan, the region is especially famous for their strong seasoning. Maybe next time ask them to reduce salt by half😅

[@matisseplatford9553]

Rindou Kobayashi intensifying

[@DisdainusMaximus]

Made this tonight, because family asked for "spicy asian chicken". Flavour profile was perfect, but now I have several family members fewer.

[@23s8]

My god this stuff is amazing..

[@adityabhargava9080]

Frying peanuts in peanut oil. Nice.

[@MysteriousBeingOfLight]

One of my favorite

[@SidMewara]

Since we have been locked out of China since Jan this year, my kids hankering for Chinese food has me hooked on this channel. 16+ China and I finally found out how to cook these dishes. #shenzhen

[@atinyrain8]

I can smell the Szechuan peppercorns just watching this. So excited to try this recipe.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Awesome, if you're on instagram shoot us a picture of the final result! We love seeing that stuff and we can give some pointers too :)

[@1372AT]

I add the sichuan peppers and it sticks to my meat and I have to bite the sichuan peppers bcuz i couldnt be asked to remove it piece by peice after cooking any tips ?

[@Matowix]

Should u traditionally eat rhe chili pieces ? I do.

[@generalfeed123]

should do a video w epic meal time lol thats what reminded me of

[@larswesterhausen7262]

The crucial advice in this video at 5:03 should not be overheard: "... till the last bits are gone and all that's left is a big pile of chilis". Got it? Don't eat the chilis, eat around them. They are just there to perfume the dish. Only a fool (or tourist or worse: a foolish tourist) would attempt to eat everything on that plate.

[@kln1]

I eat everything at that plate nontheless! I love chili! Truth is: this is a myth to not scare away tourists by the mountain of chilis in it! :P "Just leave it! No need for being too proud to surrender to this pile of chilis. The chinese also don't eat them".

[@Vazcular]

I always eat all the chilis. I did work at a Chinese restaurant for years and acquired a liking of the taste.

[@larswesterhausen7262]

@@Vazcular You may even eat the plates, the cutlery and the table cloth for all I care. However that doesn't say anything about the traditional Sichuan way of eating it.

[@Vazcular]

@@larswesterhausen7262 Say that to the Chinese immigrants who own the restaurant I speak of.

[@larswesterhausen7262]

@@Vazcular If he is from Beijing, Shanghai or Hongkong he might not necessarily have a clue of Sichuan cuisine.

[@natashawaldorn1959]

Lovely 😋

[@taoiseachjager9643]

Never in my life have i Seen a wok so full

[@toddstropicals]

I LOVE this dish! Thanks for sharing!!!

[@chriswilson3452]

oh wait you're not supposed to eat the peppers?! i always do... maybe that's why it kills my stomach lol

[@some5672]

Usually you don't eat it because they're tough as hell but if they're crispy and well fried and you can eat em I'd call that a success

[@georgke]

@3:34 is that the frying oil?

[@benzuckerman]

Great recipe. Hey, do you have a Hot and Sour soup recipe? Is it really an authentic Sichuan dish?

[@dansklrvids7303]

Made this tonight. Spicy but good. :)

[@vivalashakesify]

Where’s his restaurant in Beijing? I live in Beijing so I’m curious to check it out.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Closed down now :/ The brick-ins did a number on the little bars and restaurants in the Hutongs... Adam's now down in Shenzhen too.

[@rikosaikawa9024]

I thought the thumbnail was a pizza. Schicuan pizza sounds good

[@creenguyen1]

I currently live in Beijing. What restaurant is it that you make this at? Thanks

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Hey so Ron Mexico's rebranding :/ What happened is that one of the owners had some health problems and's going back to the States, and the other owner had some philosophical differences as to what the bar should be. Seems weird to rebrand a popular bar, but hey, I guess that's why I (Chris) don't work in F&B lol www.timeoutbeijing.com/features/Blogs-Restaurants_Blogs/162759/The-end-of-an-era-as-Ron-Mexico-shuts-its-doors.html

[@matth5275]

seems a little light on the chilli, but looks freakin awesome! :)

[@petervlcko4858]

This dish is a MUST ✌️

[@peaceful3250]

Szechuan chillies? Not Szechuan peppercorns?

[@Baelin]

Hi guys, for this recipe, do you remove the seeds of the peppers?

[@Shaharazad221]

How much oil are you *really* supposed to use in the last cooking step? Looks like about 1/3 of a cup to me.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

A non-insignificant amount lol, I'd estimate a quarter of a cup? Definitely more than two tablespoons

[@marcusaurelius4366]

Hi Chris, since Reddit is blocked in my country, do you have any other site I can access?

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Damn, that sucks. Where you based out of that blocks reddit but not KZbin... Indonesia I'm guessing? Send us a KZbin message with your e-mail address and I'll send you the big doc file of all our written recipes.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Cheers, sent. I'll delete your comment with the email address for safety reasons.

[@pah1455]

Having a bawl over the way you say "hide n seek" the chicken from the pile

[@pralineblues]

wow, didn't know it's supposed to have that much chili. Thank you for the great video :)

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Yeah, the look and feel of this dish is kind of 'chilies with a side of chicken' lol

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

Want some chicken with your chilis?

[@gantz4u]

I made this and have had it prepared in a szechuan restaurant to compare it to. I used chicken thighs and couldnt get them to crisp. Prob. should have just gone breast meat. Also mixed a few green into the red pepper szechuan and either should have picked up a habanero or just pepper sprayed the pot as the scoville heat wasnt hitting. Still pretty good. But my ratio of Ma vs La didnt balance 50/50. Way too much szechuan

[@joshymole]

Is there a variation that uses 5 spice and star aniseed? I ate a variation of this last week from my local resturant and I'm sure the chicken was coated in 5 spice, and in some bits, I would get a hint of aniseed flavor. It was amazing!

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Personally haven't heard of a laziji using five spice and star anise... the xiangla flavor profile wouldn't usually use five spice, but it seems like it might be a nice twist :)

[@margarets4610]

I tried it with 5 spice also and turned out great. Thanks for the video by the way.

[@Asgardsjaeger]

so you dont eat the chili?

[@guzzopinc1646]

I tried substituting arbol chilis for the dried whole chilis here but it was way too spicy. Id definitley suggest people using the "Heaven Facing Chilis" also known as Chao tian jiao

[@ezrhino100]

where do you get the sauces from... amazon?

[@peterblais6268]

So, I made this last night subbing Thai Birdseyes (50g was all I had) and Cayenne.... OMG that was nuclear. Also 3tbsp of cayenne appeared to be like twice what they had on the plate in the video, so I chickened out at the last minute and flicked some into the sink... Still my meat came out like twice as red as this in color and yeah... Very very hot. I can eat some hot stuff but definitely paying today. Does anybody know, was it the cayenne that killed me, or was it the Thai Chili's substitute?

[@goldenboy140]

Thai Birdseyes are way hotter than cayenne and hotter than most chilis used in sichuan cuisine so yeah

[@TS-tt1pn]

Bird eye Chili are intense, even when de seeded, you’re a champ for finishing it 😂

[@Lilbrunchie]

would you guys change the cooking time at all if you used boneless chicken breast?

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Nope, everything as is. There's a bit of a lengthy discussion on chicken choices in the recipe on reddit, but whatever chicken you go for make sure you're cutting it real small - sort of like popcorn chicken sized.

[@TheGamingCathedral]

All those chili peppers made me drown in my own saliva.

[@wonderwomen2373]

What can i use instead of Chinese wine bcz i am Muslim

[@seth5899]

I feel like Adam is a closet fan of The Houseplant Song by Audio Adrenaline

[@JestaKilla]

Just made this, but I couldn't get Szechuan chili peppers, so I fear the ones I used weren't spicy enough... but it's still delicious!

[@sergeigen1]

arbol chilies work fine man, what did you use ?

[@JestaKilla]

@@sergeigen1 I used arbols, but maybe I just like really hot food! There seemed to be more heat from the Szechuan peppercorns than from the chilies.

[@indraneelroy5566]

I am blown away. Chicken with character. I love this recipe. Thanks a lot.

[@albarnes6421]

Death Metal! Awesome 🤘🤣🤘

[@richardrhodes9664]

>pours about a cup of oil >"2 tables spoons of oil"

[@facesxy]

Wait... so you're not supposed to eat the chilis in the dish? :o

[@RB-hm9re]

Bloody good

[@mwm242]

Used to live in Chongqing and this looks legit as fuck and brings back memories. Thanks for sharing. Will be working this up this weekend.

[@yukuhana]

Add some more, the answer is always yes. ROFLMAO! 3:33 It's amazing all that oil disappears into the ingredients after all is said and done!

[@nelumbonucifera7537]

Hah, "two tablespoons" of oil. The idea that adding wet ingredients will make things crispier is pretty counter intuitive. I'll have to try that. Great channel, btw.

[@adamgottschalk2923]

Hah, Chris made a point in the written version of this recipe that it's probably the cilantro and spring onion quickly drying out and then soaking up the excess oil, causing the chicken to become more dry. All I know is, it doesn't work as well when the greens are dry before including them in the cooking process. The Hunan chef I was working for who taught me this trick was like, "of course it makes it crispier, idiot" and never gave any more explanation. It is what it is

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Let's just call that the ol' Beijing tablespoon

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

+Adam Gottschalk Well then, the mystery continues. Please, someone that knows something about Chemistry help us out here...

[@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017]

That sounds mystifying to me and I have a bachelor's in chemistry. I suppose that the superheated steam which is momentarily created from adding the moist greens might drive off some moisture from the chicken batter, but not sure why that wouldn't have happened already.

[@AlqGo]

That's interesting but how could steam take out more moisture instead of adding more?

[@tylerng2004]

With this much chilies, remember what goes in must comes out 😂

[@namedrop721]

U don’t eat the chilies

[@wezzuh2482]

Adam from OTR

[@jaysummers673]

are you not supposed to eat the chilis in this dish? they're my favorite part

[@guzzopinc1646]

when i get this at my favorite restaurant they leave a ton of sichuan peppercorns in the mix... adding to the hide and seek element

[@anroyus]

Attempted this today. Could not get the crispy texture though. Taste was quite close. Will post photo

[@anroyus]

ibb.co/cwkqn7 ibb.co/kbK5LS

[@anroyus]

These are the images of the Sichuan dry pot chicken that I attempted today. So the temp 180 F was not hot enough to make the chicken get crispy in 5 mins. BTW - I improvised all-purpose flour in place of corn starch. Not sure if that would matter. Then I bumped the oil temp to 220 F and was able to get the golden brown color in 5 mins. I was using proper Chinese wok. What should I fix ? I was only able to marinate for 1 hour. I did not use MSG and chicken bullion.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Ok, so a couple things. First off, a couple points of clarification: (1) the temperature that we were frying at was Celsius, not Fahrenheit (probably the biggest variable) and (2) cornstarch is much crispier than AP flour :) We've had a couple replication issues here though, so if you don't mind I'll copy/paste a comment that I wrote below: _____________ So right, this was Adam's recipe which I'm pretty sure was mostly developed from his time working at the Sichuan restaurant in Virginia. It's tasty as all hell, but in the time since this video we've gotten a little more hardcore about replicating the exact technique that's used for whatever the dish we're making. He's a trained chef though (we're not), so we've been hesitant to throw up a stickied comment here. So first off, you might want to try the frying method that's, well, used in Sichuan. Usually this is deep fried with NO coating. Marinate your chicken using a standard marinade of salt (let's go with 1 tsp), soy sauce (1 tbsp), liaojiu (2 tbsp), and cornstarch (2 tbsp). Mix well then coat with a bit of oil. No need for the long marinade - half hour should be fine. Deep fry the chicken pieces at a lower temperature (150C) for about 10 minutes or til they dry out. Then deep fry again real quick (1 min or so) at that hotter 190C temp. This video is a good illustration of the technique: kzbin.info/www/bejne/epPHfoSAjaZ8paMm18s (Chinese w/ Eng subs, might also just be a decent recipe to try) Now, if you're opting for Adam's method, I think heat/wok size can be a variable - as we said in the reddit post, the batch we did for this video was good but less crispy than our aesthetic ideal... led us to go out and buy a much needed newer, bigger wok and the dish was much better the next time Adam was in town. Be sure not to crowd the Wok like was done here - work in batches if using this sized wok. Second, even while Adam swears by the technique I can't for the life of me figure out the science of 'cold water hitting hot oil with ingredients = crispy skin' besides what I pontificated in the comments here (those herbs absorbing the excess oil) - try skipping that step. Lastly, instead of adding the fried chicken pieces near the beginning of the stir-fry, try adding it at the very end - usually for coated deep fried dishes we've learned that they're usually the last step of the stir-fry.

[@anroyus]

Bang on. I will retry and re-post. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge. I love your precise explanation - you are a great chef who can speak fluently in the language of an engineer. Thank you.