Chicken With Black Bean Sauce 豆豉雞 is a very popular fermented black bean dish. Soybeans 大豆 (dà dòu) were already in existence during the Zhou Dynasty, over 3,000 years ago. There are 3 kinds of soybeans: yellow soy beans 黃豆 (húang dòu), black soy beans 黑豆 (hēi dòu) and green soy bean or edamame 毛豆 (máo dòu)。 It wasn’t until 1,000 years after that, in the late Qin to early Han Dynasties that we saw the emergence of fermented soy beans 豆豉 (dòu chì) and its by-products like soy sauce and soy paste.
Chicken with black bean sauce 豆豉雞 was made famous in a town in Guangzhou named Luoding 羅定 (lúo dìng). Luoding has been famous for its fermented soy beans since the end of the Ming Dynasty. It was so good that many government officials would buy it as gifts to family and friends. The local restaurants in Luoding used their famous fermented soy beans and made a dish called 羅定豆豉雞 (lúo dìng dòu chì jī) which literally translate to Luoding Black Bean Chicken. The Luoding free range chicken was apparently also quite famous.
I would love to try some Luoding fermented soy beans, but I haven’t found any here in Vancouver. Perhaps the next time I visit Hong Kong, I will try to see if I can find some. In the meantime, I can only call my dish “Chicken with black bean sauce”. But it still tastes pretty good! There are two important steps to making this dish better than most. One is to have a good sear on the chicken and second is to fry the garlic and fermented soy beans in oil before adding the chicken.
Chicken with black bean sauce 豆豉雞 goes well with rice or noodles. You can even try eating it with steamed Chinese buns like 饅頭 màn tóu or 刮包 gūa bāo….like a hamburger. In the pictures below, I used Cantonese rice vermicelli (瀨粉 lài fěn).
Need more ideas for dinner? Try my Prawns in Sweet Soy Sauce 豉油皇煎蝦 or Steamed Winter Melon with Pork 瑤柱豬肉片釀冬瓜.
Chicken With Black Bean Sauce 豆豉雞
Ingredients
- 900 g Boneless chicken
- 4 Small shallots
- 20 g Fermented black beans
- 6 cloves Garlic
- 2 slices Ginger
- 2 stalks Green onions
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Oil
Ingredients for chicken marinade:
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Light soy sauce
- ½ tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Corn starch
Instructions
- Cut boneless chicken to approx. 2cm cubes
- Marinate chicken with 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp light soy sauce, ½ salt and 2 tsp cornstarch. Set aside
- Cut 4 small shallots into halves, chop 6 cloves of garlic, wash 20 g of fermented black beans, slice 2 pieces of fresh ginger, and cut 2 stalks of green onions into 5 cm pieces. Set aside
- Heat a wok or pan to high heat
You can use medium-high heat if you are not comfortable with high heat but searing may take longer than 90 seconds per side - Add 2 tbsp oil and add chicken to the pan in a single layer. Let it sear for approx. 1 minute
Be sure to allow space between the chicken pieces for the steam to escape. Sear in more than one batch if necessary - Flip the chicken over and sear for another minute until both sides are seared
- Reduce heat to medium and remove chicken from pan and set aside
- Add shallots and ginger to the pan and stir-fry until aromatic
- Add garlic and black beans and stir-fry for another 30 seconds
- Turn heat back up to high and add chicken but do not add any of the juice of the chicken that might have come out during resting
- Stir-fry until well mixed and add 1 tbsp of Shaoxing wine to the outer edge of the pan so that it can slide to the bottom of the pan. Stir-fry for 20 seconds
- Add 1 tsp of dark soy sauce and 1 tsp sugar to the chicken and stir until well mixed
- Reduce heat to low and cover with a lid for 90 seconds
- Remove lid and check if the chicken is done. If the chicken is not done, put the lid back on and check back in 60 seconds until it’s done
- Turn off heat and taste. Add more soy sauce or sugar if necessary The saltiness of the black beans and soy sauce can vary
- Serve
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