Description
A legendary Chongqing dish consisting of a literal mountain of dried red chilies and Sichuan peppercorns hiding crispy, bite-sized pieces of bone-in chicken. An artistic display of madness.
Restaurants serving La Zi Ji (Spicy Firecracker Chicken)
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We are researching restaurants that serve this dish.
On this site you can check dictionary details and, later, places to buy or eat related items.
The Recipe section below is a general reference, not a recipe from the listed shops.
Recipe
Ingredients
- Bone-in chicken
- Dried red chilies(massive)
- Sichuan peppercorns(Red/Green)
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Soy sauce
Instructions
- [Authentic Recipe]
- Chop bone-in chicken into thumb-sized pieces. Marinate deeply with soy, salt, pepper, wine, and ginger juice.
- Lightly dust with starch and deep-fry at high heat (180°C/350°F) until rock-hard, crispy, and brown (Gan Zha) to expel all moisture.
- The Soul: Heat a massive amount of oil (veg oil mixed with lard/sesame oil) in a wok. Add garlic, ginger, and a volume of dried red chilies (snipped in half) 'three times larger than the chicken', plus massive amounts of red/green Sichuan peppercorns.
- Fry on low heat until right before the chilies burn, extracting their roasted, fiery essence (Hu La) into the oil.
- Toss the fried chicken back in, blasting the heat to violently coat the meat in the spice aroma.
Learn more Spice, substitutes, tips
Key spices
Massive chilies and Sichuan pepper 'Hu La'(charred heat)
Substitutes at Japanese supermarkets
Japanese Karaage (but thick batter ruins it)
Pairing
Cold Beer / Wang Lao Ji
Trivia
[Trivia] Order this at a Gachi-Chuka restaurant, and it arrives on a basin-sized plate, filling the entire room with an intense chili smoke that makes other customers cough.
Eating tips & etiquette
[Unique Eating] NEVER eat the mountain of chilies. Use chopsticks to hunt for the tiny pieces of chicken hidden in the red sea like a treasure hunt. Connoisseurs take the leftover chilies home for cooking oil.
Allergen
Chicken, Soybeans, Wheat