San Bei Ji means Three Cup Chicken because it uses equal portions of sesame oil, soy sauce and wine.
This is traditionally made with a whole chicken, chopped into pieces, with bone and skin in. But I was clearing out my freezer, found one chicken breast and made this dish which was enough for two people. I usually prefer to make it with chicken thigh and wing; breast meat is too tough for me. You could make this for dinner and have enough leftover to take to work.
Also I had bought a bottle of black sesame oil and wanted to test its flavor. (It was good, but I detected little difference from using regular sesame oil.)
Cook this very quickly in the beginning at high heat to seal the flavors. And then, simmer it at the end on low to reduce the sauce to a delicious, thick gravy. This dish is slightly sweet.
In Taiwan, Thai basil is often added to the dish at the end of cooking. But I forgot about that until I went back and looked at a recipe I had written about a while ago.
San Bei Chicken
Serves 4
Preparation time: 5 minutes, and about 30 minutes to soak mushroom
Cooking time: 20-30 minutes
4 chicken thighs, each thigh cut into three parts
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup sesame oil
3 thick slices of ginger
8 cloves of garlic, smashed roughly, peeled and left whole
5 medium sized dried mushroom, soaked, drained and sliced (optional)
¼ cup Shaoxing or sake
½ tablespoon sugar
½ cup Thai basil leaves (optional)
Marinate chicken with 1 tablespoon soy sauce and set aside.
Heat a 3-quart pan. Add sesame oil. When sesame oil heats up, quickly add ginger and garlic and brown for 10 seconds. Add chicken and mushroom and stir well or shake the pan to coat ingredients with oil. Add rest of soy sauce, wine, and sugar. Cover pan. Shake pan or stir chicken to move ingredients around. Reduce heat to low immediately. Simmer covered for about 15-20 minutes, until chicken is cooked and sauce is reduced.
When chicken is cooked, add basil. Toss to cook basil for 20 seconds. Turn off heat. Dish out and serve with rice.
NOTES
–Just bruise the garlic, but if you prefer them sliced, it can be sliced, or chopped.
–Sesame oil heats up very quickly so be ready to work fast so ingredients do not burn.
–Have seasonings portioned out and ready because everything goes into pot very quickly.
Variations
Different ingredients
–Instead of thighs, use a whole chicken, 3 pounds, chopped into small pieces.
–Add 1 large carrot, cut in chunks and cooked separately till almost tender. Add carrot to pot just after browning chicken. This will give it color and add volume to a meal for larger groups.
–Instead of Chinese mushroom, add regular white button mushroom, sliced or left whole if mushroom is small.
Different seasoning
–Add 1 large red chili, chopped into five pieces, right after chicken is browned.
Banquet Presentation
–Dish out the pieces of garlic with the chicken.
–Garnish with fresh basil. San Bei Ji does not have a lot of sauce. Serve it in a shallow dish and place basil at the rim of the plate or on top of chicken.
Glossary of Ingredients
Click here for more on:
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
Ginger
Shaoxing wine or sake
Thai basil leaves
