3 cups Chicken Recipes

This is another classic Chinese dish originated from Taiwan. The main ingredients for this dish are using 1 cup soy sauce, one cup of sesame oil, one cup of rice wine and a generous amount of Thai basil leaves. That is how it got its name 3 cups chicken (san bei ji) The first time I tasted this dish was when I went home last year and my BIL CK took me to a famous Taiwanese restaurant called Fong Lye. Once I tasted the dish I fell in love with it. So here is my version of 3 cups chicken but I didn’t use the whole cup of sesame oil and soy sauce. I think that is a bit too much for me but do feel free to adjust the amount of marinate to your liking.

Ingredients:

1 small chicken – around 2 pounds, clean, remove skin and cut into bite size pieces
5 slices of ginger
4 dried chilies – soak and remove seeds (optional)
1 small bunch Thai basil leaves
1 cup Chinese cooking wine
¾ cup soy sauce
4 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 thumb size rock sugar or 1 tbsp sugar

1. Marinate chicken with soy sauce, 2 tbsp sesame oil, cooking wine and dark soy sauce for at least 4 hours.
2. Heat up the remaining 2 tbsp sesame oil in a wok or claypot until sizzling hot. Add in the garlic, ginger and dry chili. Stir fry until fragrant. Add in the chicken pieces and continue to stir until chicken changes color.
3. Add in the rest of the marinade liquid and sugar. Bring it up to boil, cover and cook and turn down the heat and let it simmer slowly.
4. Cook until all the liquid almost disappear and chicken is done. Check seasonings Add in the basil stir and dish out or serve it in the claypot.

Note: For this dish you have to use Thai basil as it gives this dish a very nice flavor. If the dish gets too dry before it is cook you can add in extra cooking wine or water to it.