Stir-Fried Chicken in Black Bean Sauce 豉椒雞球 (Cantonese: si jiew gai kou) is another classic Cantonese dish. I don’t think it needs much introduction. It’s one dish I learned to make quite well when I was in university. I remember that money was tight and chicken legs were always quite inexpensive. When they go on sale, we would stock up on them. I’d help my mom debone them and cut them into bite size pieces before freezing them. This made cooking with them very quick and easy. We even saved the bones for making soup so that nothing goes to waste. There was a period of time when I was in charge of making dinner because my mom had to work late. I think I made this dish at least once a week because it was cheap, fast and everyone loved it!
It’s a bit scary to see the price of food going up quite significantly in the last little while. I was pleasantly surprised to find 10 lb boxes of frozen chicken legs on sale for $11 CAD. Each box had around 11-12 legs so they were quite big. Perfect size for making them into chicken steaks. I can make Taiwanese Fried Chicken and Drunken Chicken with them. Or I can just pan-fry them and make a black pepper sauce to pour on top. For this Stir-Fried Chicken in Black Bean Sauce 豉椒雞球, I used the meat of 2 chicken legs. This means that this dish only cost me around $3 to make and it was enough for 2 people! It’s cheaper than a fast-food burger! Not only is this meal inexpensive, it’s healthy and delicious too!
I did a previous recipe called Chicken with Black Bean Sauce. I made that one with a drier sauce with no bell peppers. Stir-Fried Chicken in Black Bean Sauce 豉椒雞球 is a more typical style that you would find at restaurants with bell peppers, onions and more sauce. I like both!
My Stir-Fried Chicken in Black Bean Sauce 豉椒雞球 recipe will show you how to make your chicken tender and moist. You also won’t be needing any store-bought black bean sauce. I’ll show you how it can be easily made from scratch. Fermented black beans will pretty much last forever, I think. I swear my mom found some in her cupboard that was at least 10 years old and they were still good!
Give this quick, easy and economical recipe a try. Serve it over rice or noodles. Toss it with noodles to get a great tasting lo mein.
Stir-Fried Chicken in Black Bean Sauce 豉椒雞球
Ingredients
- 450 g Chicken meat (approx. 600 g if using bone-in chicken)
- 1 Medium onion , cut into wedges
- ½ Bell pepper (any colour), cut into wedges
- 1 Chili pepper (optional)
- 8 cloves Garlic , smashed
- 15 g Fermented black beans
- 1 tsp Shaoxing wine
- 2 tbsp Oil
Ingredients for marinade:
- 1 tsp Oyster sauce
- 1 tsp Light soy sauce
- ½ tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Corn starch
- 5 g Fermented black beans , whole
- 1 tsp Oil
Ingredients for slurry:
- 1 tsp Corn starch
- 1 tsp Light soy sauce
- ½ tsp Dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 100 ml Water
Instructions
- Wash and soak 20g fermented black beans for 5 minutes
- Cut chicken into bite size pieces
mine are approx. 3cm or 1” pieces - Marinate the chicken with 1 tsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp light soy sauce, ½ tsp sugar, 1 tsp corn starch and 5g fermented black beans. Mix well
- Add 1 tsp oil to the chicken and mix well. Set aside for 10 minutes
- Cut onion and bell pepper into wedges. Cut chili pepper into desired size
- Roughly cut 8 cloves of garlic
- Lay garlic and remaining black beans on a cutting board, put a piece of plastic wrap over it and mash with a rubber mallet or the bottom of your cleaver/knife. Alternatively, use a mortar and pestle. Place into a bowl
- Prepare slurry by combining 1 tsp corn starch, 1 tsp light soy sauce, ½ tsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar and 100ml water. Mix well and set aside
- Heat wok using high heat. Add 2 tbsp oil
- Add chicken, arrange in single layer and leave for 1 minute or until browned
- Flip the chicken pieces over and cook for another minute or until browned and remove from the wok. Leave the oil
- Add onions to the wok, stir-fry for 1 minute and shift to one side
- Add smashed garlic and fermented black beans to the empty space and stir-fry for 1 minute
- Add peppers, chilis and 1 tsp Shaoxing wine
- Stir-fry everything until mixed
- Add the chicken back into the wok. Stir-fry together until chicken if fully cooked. Will take approx. 3-5 minutes depending on the size of the chicken
- Stir the slurry and pour it slowly over the chicken while continuously stirring until the sauce has thickened
- Taste test and make adjustments if necessary
- Serve
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