Sichuan Spicy Braised Chicken With Baby Taro (Yuer Ji, 芋儿鸡)
The Mala MarketIngredients
- 1.6 pounds (750g) corn-fed whole chicken or 1.3 pounds (600g) boneless, skin-on chicken thighs or legs
- 1 pound (450g) baby taro (also sold as “eddo”)
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 2 tablespoons Pixian doubanjiang
- ½ tablespoon Sichuan ground chilies
- ½ inch (10 grams) ginger, cut into thick coins
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
- 2 dried er jing tiao chili, deseeded
- 1 scallion, cut crosswise into 2 inch-long (5cm) pieces
- 1 star anise
- 1 small piece cassia bark (gui pi)
- 1 pod Chinese black cardamom (cao guo)
- ½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped pickled er jing tiao chili
- 1½ tablespoons light soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 3 cups (700ml) chicken stock or water
- Chopped cilantro and scallion greens, to garnish
Instructions
- Use a cleaver to chop the chicken into 1–2 inch (3-5 cm) chunks. Wearing gloves, peel the taro then quarter or roll-cut it into pieces of about the same size as the chicken. (Alternatively, you can boil the taro for 10 minutes to remove the skin-irritating calcium oxalate, then peel and cut it without gloves.)
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and stir-fry for 4–5 minutes, until they are golden and no longer watery. Season the chicken with the salt, stir briefly, then remove the pieces from the pot.
- Clean out the pot. Add the 2 remaining tablespoons of oil and heat them on low. Add the doubanjiang and ground chilies to the pot and stir-fry for about 2–3 minutes, until the oil turns red. Add the ginger, garlic, chili, scallion, star anise, cassia bark, black cardamom and Sichuan pepper and stir-fry the spices briefly until they are fragrant.
- Turn the heat up to medium. Add the chicken back into the pot, then add the taro and mix everything until the chicken and taro are coated in the sauce. Add the pickled chili and the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and sugar and stir to combine.
- Add the chicken stock or water to the pot. Bring everything to a simmer, cover the pot, and let the braise simmer over medium-low heat for approximately 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the taro is soft. (If you’re using boneless chicken, it takes less time). Taste the mixture and add salt to taste, if needed. Garnish the braise with the chopped scallion and cilantro.
Notes
To turn this dish into a hotpot, start by preparing the stew as instructed but use your hotpot setup instead of a regular pot. While the chicken cooks, get your other hotpot ingredients ready—leafy greens, mushrooms, tofu, chicken gizzards (if available), noodles, or any other ingredients you like. Just be mindful of the broth's spiciness if you add ingredients that will soak up lots of flavor, like bean sprouts.
If you don’t mind a bit of waiting time, you can also prepare the recipe up to step 3 in advance and serve it directly at the table. In Sichuan, we usually enjoy this in two rounds: first we savor the chicken and taro, then we add more water or broth, bring it to a boil, and blanch the remaining ingredients until they’re cooked through.