Neil Perry

Tangerine Peel Chicken

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Preparation info

    • Difficulty

      Medium

Appears in

top 1000Balance and Harmony: Asian Food

Balance and Harmony

By Neil Perry

Published 2008

  • About

This Sichuan-inspired dish has a lovely fragrance and taste from the tangerine peel. You can buy the dried peel in Chinese food stores, but it’s really nice to make your own by eating the fruit and then drying the peel yourself — it tastes better and is certainly more fragrant. This will also work with mandarins and oranges; use whichever one you have available.

Ingredients

  • 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) free-range or organic chicken breast fillets, skin on, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 3 pieces dried tangerine peel, crumbled vegetable oil, for deep-frying
  • 3 dried long red chillies, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons shaoxing
  • 2½ teaspoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
  • 3 teaspoons light soy sauce
  • 3 teaspoons Chinkiang vinegar
  • a few drops of sesame oil

    Method

    To make the marinade, mix together the ginger, spring onions, sea salt, soy sauce and shaoxing. Add the chicken and toss together. Leave for 15 minutes, then drain.

    Heat the oil in a wok or deep-fryer until just smoking (180°C/350°F), and deep-fry the chicken in batches until golden, then drain on paper towel. Pour the oil from the wok and wipe clean.

    Reheat the wok with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and stir-fry the chillies and tangerine peel until they darken. Add the chicken pieces and toss together, then deglaze the wok with the shaoxing. Stir in the sugar, soy sauces, vinegar and sesame oil and stir-fry until the sauce thickens and coats the chicken.