Cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces. In a bowl, mix the meat with the Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce, light and dark soy sauces, salt, starch, sugar and white pepper. Marinate for 15 minutes.
Remove the stem and core from the bell pepper, then cut it into small pieces. Peel and halve the shallots and mince the garlic.
Heat a clay pot (or a wok with a lid) over medium-high heat until hot. Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, then stir-fry the shallots and ginger for about a minute, until fragrant.
Add the marinated chicken and cook for 3–4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat is no longer pink and the fat has rendered. Once the chicken has cooked, use chopstick or a spatula to arrange the shallots and ginger at the bottom of the pot with the chicken sitting on top of them—this helps prevent the chicken from scorching over high heat during the rest of the cooking process.
Add the garlic, douchi and bell pepper to the pot, leaving them on top of the chicken. Increase the heat to medium-high and cover the clay pot with a lid.
Once the pot is getting hot, drizzle the Shaoxing wine along the lid’s edge, so that it runs into the pot through the crack between the lid and the base. (If using a wok, pour the Shaoxing wine along the pan’s edge, so it runs down into the other ingredients, then cover the wok immediately to trap the steam.) Let the chicken simmer for 3-4 minutes, until fully cooked.
Remove the lid and give all the ingredients a final toss. The chicken should be fully cooked. Season with salt to taste. Turn off the heat, drizzle everything with the sesame oil, and garnish the dish with the scallion greens.
