Sichuan "Saliva" Chicken (四川口水雞)

Ok, the name of this dish may sound disgusting. It's a direct translation of a popular appetizer from Sichuan, China. Before you ask, I'm going to tell you that it is NOT made with anyone's saliva ;) It's named that way simply because it's so tasty that it made people salivate for more!

Coming from Shenzhen, it's basically steamed chicken pieces with lots of spicy oil, spring onion, rice wine, sesame seed and cilantro. It indeed made me salivate just to think about it. It's just so flavorful with many colors. This is how I made it:

Ingredients:
1 whole Chicken (washed and trimmed)
Ginger (1 medium piece)
Spring onion (2 stalks)

Sauce:
Rice wine (4 tablespoons)
Cilantro (a few bunches-chopped)
Spring onion (a few bunches-chopped)
Chopped peanut (a few tablespoons)
Sesame seeds (1/4 cup)
Sesame oil (1 tablespoon)
Chinese chilli oil (1-3 tablespoons: your choice)
Ginger root (peeled, and sliced thinly)
Canola oil (1 tablespoon)
Sugar (2 teaspoons)
Salt (a few pinches)

Step 1: Poach the chicken: Heat up a big pot of water with the ginger piece and the spring onion stalks. Put the whole chicken into it (make sure it's completely emerged into the liquid). Wait for it come to a boil. Put the lid on.Wait for 3 minutes and turn off the heat. Do not open the lid (important: no peeking!) for 2 hours.

Step 2: Pour hot liquid away and discard ginger and spring onion stalks. Run cold water over chicken. Dry chicken with paper towels. Let the chicken cool down in a big bowl. Chop chicken into chunky pieces.

Step 3: Mix in sauce and let it marinate for at least two hours in the refrigerator. Serve cold or hot.

Enjoy!