Name: Chicken braised in black bean garlic sauce
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 85 min
Ingredients: 400 grams skin-on chicken thigh fillets ((14.1 oz) cut into 1½-inch cubes); 1 teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder; 2 tablespoons cornstarch; 2 tablespoons Shao Xing wine; 1 heaping teaspoon black beans and garlic sauce; 1 tablespoon oyster sauce; 1 teaspoon grated ginger with the juice; 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce; ¼ teaspoon sesame seed oil; 2 tablespoons cooking oil; 3 tablespoons sliced scallions; 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Velveted chicken is precooked in oil before the salty-sweet-spicy sauce is added and the braising begins. Velveting the chicken transforms an ordinary chicken dish into restaurant quality fare.

Chicken braised in black bean garlic sauce

Cook’s notes

Tasty, easy and fast cooking. Velveting the chicken takes an hour but the actual cooking takes no more than 15 minutes. Can the velveting part be skipped altogether? Well, you can skip it. But you won’t get the silky texture that gives the dish a restaurant quality appeal.

What is velveting?

It is a preparation method that involves marinating the chicken (or meat or seafood) with starch and liquid. The liquid can be the seasoning. The starch traps the moisture inside each piece of chicken so that even when cooked in ultra high heat, it stays divinely succulent.

What is black bean garlic sauce?

It’s a combination of crushed fermented black beans and minced garlic. You can buy it in jars in most groceries that sell Chinese ingredients.

But black bean garlic sauce is just the primary ingredient for the sauce in which the velveted chicken was braised. Sweet chili sauce, oyster sauce, grated ginger and sesame seed oil were added.

Tip: Add water before braising

If you rely on the sauce alone to cook the chicken in, the liquid will dry out before the chicken is cooked through. So, water was poured into the wok before the braising began. By the time the water had evaporated, the sauce had thickened sufficiently to coat every piece of chicken.

Chicken braised in black bean garlic sauce

Course: Main Course

Tag: Chicken fillet

Servings: 3 people

Prep: 10

Cook: 15

Velveting: 1

Total: 1 25

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Ingredients

Chicken

400 grams skin-on chicken thigh fillets (14.1 oz) cut into 1½-inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons Shao Xing wine

Sauce

1 heaping teaspoon black beans and garlic sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon grated ginger with the juice
2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
¼ teaspoon sesame seed oil

To cook and garnish

2 tablespoons cooking oil
3 tablespoons sliced scallions
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

Velvet the chicken

Place the chicken in a mixing bowl, add salt and five-spice powder and mix well.
Dissolve the cornstarch in the wine, stir in sesame seed oil, pour over the chicken and mix thoroughly until the liquid is absorbed.
Cover the chicken and leave in the fridge for an hour.

Make the sauce

Mix together all the ingredients for the sauce.
Measure the sauce and prepare an equal amount of water.

Cook the chicken

Heat the cooking oil in a wok and spread the chicken. Separate them with kitchen tongs or chopsticks. Cook over high heat, flipping occasionally, just until lightly browned.
Pour in the sauce and water, and stir.
Cook, uncovered, until the water has evaporated and the sauce has thickened.