The first time I ever had this dish was with you in New York, when we were in town for Matt and Grace’s wedding in April 2023. We had just attended their pre-wedding drinks in this trendy bar in the East Village and I was kinda fixated about having late night Asian food (in the same way that I was slightly obsessed with red solo cups, the NFL and other forms of Americana). For me, eating late night Asian food in New York was what America was all about. Yes, I’m weird like that. And, because as we both know RICE IS LIFE.
As it was we ended up in an Italian place having epically failed in Google. But then, as we sat down, one of us (me?) found a listing round the corner for 886, a hip Taiwanese place. As I remember it, we abandoned ship at the Italian place pretty quickly and went round the corner praying 886 had a table which, thank god, it did. When we got there, you told me you followed it on Instagram and I rolled my eyes as to why we hadn’t found it sooner…lol.
Anyway, it turned out to be an epically good decision, because we both love rice and the food there was epic. It also introduced me to this banging dish, full of deep salty, sweet umami, which I have been trying to recreate with varying degrees of success ever since.
SHOPPING LIST
- 1kg of skin-on and bone in chicken thighs (or skinless and boneless, if you prefer)
- 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
- 3 or 4 small bits of rock sugar = about 2 teaspoons (or two teaspoons regular sugar)
- Big bunch basil
- 75ml xiaoshing rice wine
- 40ml sesame oil
- 40ml light soy
- 35ml dark soy
- One large finger of ginger, washed and sliced into rounds (skin on)
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
1. Remove the skin completely from half the chicken thighs. For the other half, remove the excess skin around the sides so there is some skin left on top.
2. I like to cut each thigh in half (by using a cleaver through the bone), and (if they are big), chopping off a hunk of meat so you have big chunks, some with bone attached, others not. It’s fine to use chicken thighs without the bone and without the skin, but I like the flavour from the rendered chicken fat in the final dish and the bite of meat on the bone in the final dish.
3. Slice ginger into thick-ish rounds and chop garlic.
4. In a large frying pan, put a little regular oil and fry the ginger gently for a couple of minutes.
5. Add the chicken, seal on all sides and render some of the fat from the parts with skin on (takes about 5 mins), so the fat starts to brown.
6. Add the garlic and chilli and fry for 1-2 minutes.
7. Add all the sesame oil, light soy, dark soy, rice wine and sugar. Depending on the size of your pan, the liquid should cover most but probably not all of the chicken. Add half the bunch of basil leaves.
8. Bring to a boil and cover. Braise for 20 minutes covered, turning the chicken once halfway through to ensure all the meat gets coated in the sauce.
9. Remove the lid and boil hard for about another 3-5 minutes (or more, if needed), until you get a silky, glossy but not too reduced sauce. Taste throughout this process (and adjust for sugar, as needed) as there is a fine line between perfect and too concentrated/salty. The end product should be a silky, slightly sweet and deeply umami rich sauce.
10. When you have a consistency and a flavour you’re happy with, turn off the heat and add the remaining basil. Stir to wilt it.
11. Serve with RICE because RICE is LIFE.