Bang-Bang Chicken
And now for something completely different.
I tried something a bit different for food-uppage tonight: a new recipe! It's a Chinese dish called "Bang-Bang Chicken." The name is half the reason I decided to try it. I got it from Personal Trainer: Cooking, which I picked up after work today. It's pretty nifty.
From the in-game description: "Poached chicken is seasoned with a rich and flavorful sesame sauce in this cold dish, which is a famous example of cuisine from the Szechwan region. Served with slivers of cucumber, it is a common dish at social gatherings."
From my own description: "It's a Chinese dish of chicken and cucumber strips with a sauce made of chicken broth, green onions, ginger root, cucumber, sesame paste, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and chili oil - served cool. However, I couldn't find all the ingredients, so I substituted sesame paste with peanut butter, sesame oil with peanut oil, and chili oil with chili sauce. Tasted pretty good! Smelled sweet, like lemons, but also peanuty."
Here, I'll share the recipe with you, plus a couple of slight modifications from what I learned while cooking it. By the way, if you have a nut allergy, sorry, this one's not for you. Expected preparation time is around 45 minutes, though it took me about three hours to find all the ingredients and clean my kitchen before cooking. :B
This is meant to serve four. Thoroughly wash your hands and wrists with soap and warm water for 20 seconds before handling food. Also avoid having uncooked meat contaminate other ingredients which aren't going to be immediately cooked.
- 10½ oz. chicken breast (I recommend more though if you have a big appetite. I didn't think that was enough for even three people.)
Chicken Stock:
- 5 cups Chinese chicken stock/broth (sub: regular chicken broth)
- 3½ cups green onions
- 2 three-quarter inch pieces of ginger root
- ½ cucumber
Sesame Dipping Sauce:
- 2½ green onions
- 1 small piece of ginger root, about ¼ of what's used in the sauce
- 4 tbsp sesame paste (sub: unsweetened peanut butter)
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar (sub: any vinegar)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (sub: seasoning sauce)
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 4 tsp sesame oil (sub: cooking oil)
- 2 tsp chili oil (sub: chili sauce, chili powder)
Utensils:
- Cutting board
- Kitchen knife
- Saucepan
- Mixing bowl
- Ladle
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Paper towels (optional, but they're handy)
- Kitchen scale (not necessary unless you want precise measurements of the meat)
Prepare the vegetables:
1. Use the cutting board and kitchen knife to cut the 3½ of the green onions into 1½" strips. Save the remaining 2½ for later.
2. Thinly slice the ginger without peeling it. Use 80% of it at this step, and save the remaining 20% for later.
Ready the broth:
3. Put 5 cups of Chinese chicken stock in the saucepan. Add the sliced green onion and ginger to the stock, and bring to a boil.
While the sauce is heating up, ready the chicken:
4. When the sauce begins to boil, add the chicken and let it all boil for 20 minutes. Use low heat - don't let it boil too hard.
If you want this served cool, remove it from the heat after 20 minutes, then prepare the rest of the ingredients. Otherwise, prepare them during this 20 minute period.
5. Cut the cucumber into thin strips, julienne style (think: matchsticks).
6. Chop the green onions finely (into tiny pieces).
7. Peel the ginger, then finely chop it (into tiny pieces).
Set the veggies aside, and begin to prepare the sesame sauce.
8. Get your mixing bowl, and add 4 tbsp of sesame paste, 2 tbsp of rice vinegar, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 2 tbsp of sugar, 4 tsp of sesame oil, and 2 tsp of chili oil. Once all the sauces are in, add the chopped onion and ginger. At this point, if your chicken is done, use the ladle to take some of the broth from the saucepan and add it to the mixing bowl. Finally, mix it all together well.
Almost done, just gotta prepare to serve!
9. Remove your chicken from the broth, place it on your cutting board, and pat it dry with the paper towels if you wish. If it has skin, remove it, then slice the meat in half. Cut the halved chicken into slices, then stack those on top of each other, and slice them into thin strips.
10. Transfer the thin strips of chicken into a serving dish, along with the thin strips of cucumber. Pour the sesame sauce on top.
11. ????
12. PROFIT!!!
Unless you just want a light meal, I recommend serving this along with a side-dish or two - perhaps rice. I'm going to try that next time, and I'm also going to serve it hot rather than cool. I felt this was pretty cool, and wanted to share it.
I tried something a bit different for food-uppage tonight: a new recipe! It's a Chinese dish called "Bang-Bang Chicken." The name is half the reason I decided to try it. I got it from Personal Trainer: Cooking, which I picked up after work today. It's pretty nifty.
From the in-game description: "Poached chicken is seasoned with a rich and flavorful sesame sauce in this cold dish, which is a famous example of cuisine from the Szechwan region. Served with slivers of cucumber, it is a common dish at social gatherings."
From my own description: "It's a Chinese dish of chicken and cucumber strips with a sauce made of chicken broth, green onions, ginger root, cucumber, sesame paste, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and chili oil - served cool. However, I couldn't find all the ingredients, so I substituted sesame paste with peanut butter, sesame oil with peanut oil, and chili oil with chili sauce. Tasted pretty good! Smelled sweet, like lemons, but also peanuty."
Here, I'll share the recipe with you, plus a couple of slight modifications from what I learned while cooking it. By the way, if you have a nut allergy, sorry, this one's not for you. Expected preparation time is around 45 minutes, though it took me about three hours to find all the ingredients and clean my kitchen before cooking. :B
This is meant to serve four. Thoroughly wash your hands and wrists with soap and warm water for 20 seconds before handling food. Also avoid having uncooked meat contaminate other ingredients which aren't going to be immediately cooked.
- 10½ oz. chicken breast (I recommend more though if you have a big appetite. I didn't think that was enough for even three people.)
Chicken Stock:
- 5 cups Chinese chicken stock/broth (sub: regular chicken broth)
- 3½ cups green onions
- 2 three-quarter inch pieces of ginger root
- ½ cucumber
Sesame Dipping Sauce:
- 2½ green onions
- 1 small piece of ginger root, about ¼ of what's used in the sauce
- 4 tbsp sesame paste (sub: unsweetened peanut butter)
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar (sub: any vinegar)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (sub: seasoning sauce)
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 4 tsp sesame oil (sub: cooking oil)
- 2 tsp chili oil (sub: chili sauce, chili powder)
Utensils:
- Cutting board
- Kitchen knife
- Saucepan
- Mixing bowl
- Ladle
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Paper towels (optional, but they're handy)
- Kitchen scale (not necessary unless you want precise measurements of the meat)
Prepare the vegetables:
1. Use the cutting board and kitchen knife to cut the 3½ of the green onions into 1½" strips. Save the remaining 2½ for later.
2. Thinly slice the ginger without peeling it. Use 80% of it at this step, and save the remaining 20% for later.
Ready the broth:
3. Put 5 cups of Chinese chicken stock in the saucepan. Add the sliced green onion and ginger to the stock, and bring to a boil.
While the sauce is heating up, ready the chicken:
4. When the sauce begins to boil, add the chicken and let it all boil for 20 minutes. Use low heat - don't let it boil too hard.
If you want this served cool, remove it from the heat after 20 minutes, then prepare the rest of the ingredients. Otherwise, prepare them during this 20 minute period.
5. Cut the cucumber into thin strips, julienne style (think: matchsticks).
6. Chop the green onions finely (into tiny pieces).
7. Peel the ginger, then finely chop it (into tiny pieces).
Set the veggies aside, and begin to prepare the sesame sauce.
8. Get your mixing bowl, and add 4 tbsp of sesame paste, 2 tbsp of rice vinegar, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 2 tbsp of sugar, 4 tsp of sesame oil, and 2 tsp of chili oil. Once all the sauces are in, add the chopped onion and ginger. At this point, if your chicken is done, use the ladle to take some of the broth from the saucepan and add it to the mixing bowl. Finally, mix it all together well.
Almost done, just gotta prepare to serve!
9. Remove your chicken from the broth, place it on your cutting board, and pat it dry with the paper towels if you wish. If it has skin, remove it, then slice the meat in half. Cut the halved chicken into slices, then stack those on top of each other, and slice them into thin strips.
10. Transfer the thin strips of chicken into a serving dish, along with the thin strips of cucumber. Pour the sesame sauce on top.
11. ????
12. PROFIT!!!
Unless you just want a light meal, I recommend serving this along with a side-dish or two - perhaps rice. I'm going to try that next time, and I'm also going to serve it hot rather than cool. I felt this was pretty cool, and wanted to share it.