How to Make Sanbeiji (Three Cup Chicken)Ye Zhu - ENGL 202C

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IntroductionSanbeiji (means Three Cup Chicken) is a popular Chinese dish, originating from the Jiangxi province of China. It is now popular and famous in Taiwan. This chicken dish is called Three Cup because three cups of sauces are added for each chicken, each of rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil.

You need to prepare and cook the Three Cup Chicken in a kitchen with stove and range hood. (A range hood is necessary if you do not want your entire house to smell like chicken for the next three days) The whole process takes around 35 minutes. If you are not familiar with cooking, it takes even longer time. Be patient and relax. The chicken is first cooked on high heat and then low heat for the sauce to be absorbed by the chicken. Be sure to taste the dish before serving, or you will not have a chance to modify the taste. The dish can be served as a main course for two people, best with steamed white rice.

Notice: Rice wine is used in this recipe. This cooking wine can be purchased by people under 21. I bought this bottle of cooking wine from asian market. The rice wine will evaporate completely when the dish is cooked, so there will be no alcohol in your final dish.

Safety InformationPlease read the following information before you start.

During the cooking process, the pan and the stove could be extremely hot. DO NOT touch them or anything that could be very hot, like the cooking chicken and sauce.

Be careful with sesame oil. You need to heat the sesame oil to a high temperature at the beginning. When the oil gets hot, DO NOT put water or anything wet into the pan, or the oil will splash everywhere and hurt you.

Put everything into the pan gently and from a low height. Do not drop or throw anything from far away or from a distance above the pan. The oil will splash and hurt you.

If hot oil gets on your skin, wash the oil away with plenty of cold water. Keep calm. Be careful with the kitchen knife.

Materials a non-stick pan with lid measuring cups a spatula a kitchen knife a chopping block a timer (If your stove includes a time, you do

not need one.)

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Ingredients

Cooking

1/4 cup of sesame oil 1/4 cup of soy sauce 1/4 cup of rice wine 2 tablespoons of sugar

3 pieces of chicken thigh with no bones or skin

2 cups of fresh basil 6 cloves of garlic 10 pieces of sliced ginger root (about

2cm*5cm)

1. Wash and cut the chicken into small pieces with a kitchen knife.

The pieces should be in proper size of a bite (about 1 inch in diameter).

WARNING: The knife could be very sharp. DO NOT cut yourself.

2. Heat the non-stick pan. Use the highest heat.

Before the next step, the pan should be completely dry. If you put your hand above the pan, you can feel the heat.

WARNING: DO NOT TOUCH the pan from now on.

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3. Add 1/4 cup of sesame oil into the pan. Heat the oil for 1-2 min.

Make sure that the oil covers the entire inner surface of the pan.

WARNING: Please make sure that the pan is DRY before you add the sesame oil.

4. Add ginger root. Stir and fry for about 30 seconds, until the ginger root is a little dry. You can see the color of the ginger root is get lighter.

The amazing smell of ginger root will spread into the air.

WARNING: The ginger root should be dry.

5. Add garlic. Stir and fry it with the ginger root for another 30 seconds.

WARNING: The garlic should also be dry.

6. Add chicken into the pan. Spread the chicken to the entire inner surface of the pan.

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7. Add 1/4 cup of soy sauce, 2 table spoons of sugar and 1/4 cup of rice wine.

The order of adding the three does not matter, but you should be quick when you add them, or the chicken could burn. If you want to be safe, turn down the heat to a medium level.

Tips: Once again, rice wine evaporates and will not be in the dish.

8. Stir the mixture completely. Let the sauce cover every single piece of chicken.

9. Turn down the heat to a low level. Set the timer to 15-20 minutes. Cover the pan with its lid.

The chicken should spread out on the bottom of the pan evenly. Be sure that you can hear the timer when it rings.

10. After 15-20 minutes, open the lid. You can see that most of the sauce is absorbed by the chicken. Now add 2 cups of basil leaves into the pan. Stir and fry quickly.

If there is still many sauces in the pan, heat the chicken for another several minutes until the sauces are mostly absorbed.

Tips: Leave one piece of beautiful basil leave for decoration.

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ConclusionsIf this is your first time cooking, it could be difficult. You may not succeed for the first time, but do not give up! You will improve your cooking skill every time you cook. Traditionally, Three Cup Chicken is served in a clay pot. However, I do not have one at home, so I used a soap bowl. You can use either a clay pot or any other container you like.

Keep calm and relax.

11. Find a beautiful soup bowl. Ladle the dish into the plate.

Be very careful not to splash the sauce on the table.

WARNING: Do not forget to turn off your stove.

12. Decorate the dish with a piece of basil leaf. Serves 2 people with steamed rice. Enjoy!

Do not wait too long after it is finished. Three cup chicken is best served when it is still hot or warm.

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