The Greatest Spicy Chicken Recipe (Yu Xiang Rou Si 魚香肉絲) CiCi Li - Asian Home Cooking Recipes

Hello everyone, it's me, CeeCee. And today we're going to do yu xiang rou si. The word yu xiang in Chinese, it means fish flavor. So today let's take a look at how to make yu xiang rou si at home. So these are the ingredients that we will be using for today. If you follow my Facebook or YouTube, you might already know that in the past two years, what I have been doing is I was in the kitchen and learning to cook traditional Chinese food So before we film every episode, I would test the recipe for many times. And I did the same for yu xiang rou si too. So here you can see the revolution of what I have done. Number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and many more. But right now I think we should get back to work. Okay so first of all, we're going to soak the wood ear mushroom overnight. And then we'll just finely chop them, almost like julienned. And also, in fact, this dish should be cooked with pork. However, some of you asked me on Facebook to do this recipe with chicken. So today I'm going to use chicken breast. So with this recipe, I want to share with you my conclusion on how to perfectly marinate julienned chicken. All right, so we're first going to add a pinch of salt into the julienned chicken. And we're going to add 3 tablespoons of water. And mix until the chicken fully absorbs the water. By doing this, the benefit is that the chicken will be more tender and it won't stick together while stir-frying later. Then in a big bowl, we're going to do the usual stuff by adding half of an egg white, a pinch of white pepper, a pinch of sugar, a tablespoon of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water, and also 1 tablespoon of oil. And we're just going to mix. And then we're going to add 8 ounces of julienned chicken breast. And then we're going to stir until everything is combined. And we're going to marinate this for 10 to 30 minutes. All right, so while the chicken is marinating, we have some more free time. What are we going to do? OK, let's make the sauce. So in this bowl, we're going to add half cup of chicken stock. If you don't have chicken stock, you can also replace it with water. Then we're going to add 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine, 1 tablespoon of black vinegar, a pinch of white pepper, a pinch of sugar, a dash of sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon of water, and 1 tablespoon of oil. OK, so now we're going to do other preparation work. In this beautiful pot, we're going to boil water. And then we're going to blanch 2 ounces of bamboo shoots and 2 ounces of wood ear mushrooms that we already julienned and, you know, like soaked it overnight for about 1 minute. We're doing this because we want to remove all the gamey taste of the mushroom and also the bamboo shoots. All right, so now we're just going to take it out and put it aside. Just wait for me for 1 second, we'll be right back with you. OK, so now it's time to wok. All right, maybe I don't have a wok, but this pan will do. It's really beautiful. OK, we're going to add 3 tablespoons of oil. And then we're going to add the marinated chicken in here and then we're going to cook it until well done. OK, stir, stir, good, good, very good. Now that it's fully cooked, we're going to take it out and just put it aside. In this very beautiful pan, the same pan, right, we're going to add 3 more tablespoons of oil and 1 tablespoon of spicy soybean paste. 3 cloves of minced garlic, half of a thumb of minced ginger, 2 stalks of chopped scallions and 1 teaspoon of dojiao chilies. Although the dojiao chilies amount is really not much, but they said that dojiao chilies is actually the soul of yuxiang rousi. OK, so now we're just going to wait until the spicy aroma all comes out. Then we're going to put back our blanched bamboo shoots and wood ear mushrooms. OK, thank you very much for your patience. Now that you're in the pot and we're going to stir it a little bit and then we're also going to add back our julienned chicken. Again, thank you for your patience. Now we're going to pour in the sauce and mix. OK, that looks really nice and really delicious. Good. Let's stir a little bit more. OK, I think this is good. And 1 tablespoon of chili oil. This chili oil, I made it myself. If you're interested in this recipe, you can also check right here. And lastly, we're going to add a handful of scallions and this is done. Oh, remember to mix a bit. OK, so our yuxiang rousi is ready to be tried right here. It looks really gorgeous, really pretty. So let me give it a try and see how it goes this time. Whoa, it's actually really, really spicy. Whoa, it's really spicy, actually. So when I was younger, I lived in Southeast Asia. My family moved to Southeast Asia, although I'm Chinese. So the first time I tried yuxiang rousi, I was in China, right? And then I was like, oh my God, this dish is so delicious, spicy, it's a little bit of sourness and also sweet. So from then on, whenever I go to a Sichuan restaurant, I always order yuxiang rousi. So this is something memorable for me and hopefully you guys can try this dish at home and also share my memory and my passion for yuxiang rousi.