Three Cup Chicken (San Bei Ji)

Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year as it is still called) in 2021 falls on February 12th (Friday) 🧧. 2021 is the year of the metal Ox and according to the Chinese Zodiac this year is going to be lucky and perfect to focus on relationships; it is also a year when work will get rewarded. 🤩

In the spirit of the upcoming Chinese New Year, 🧧 I decided to prepare a Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken or San Bei Ji (三杯鸡) 🍗

It is easy to prepare and the meal derives its name from the three major sauce ingredients – soya sauce, Shaoxing rice wine and sesame oil. “Three cups” of each, add a little sugar and you have your succulent, delicious, nutty flavoured sauce for the chicken. 😋

Ingredients:

500 g of chicken breasts (you can also use thighs but I prefer boneless chicken breasts) chopped into cubes 🍗
fresh basil 🌿
1 red bell pepper 🫑
15 slices of ginger
10-15 garlic cloves 🧄
sesame oil
soya sauce
Shaoxing rice wine
1 table spoon of brown sugar
salt to taste

Method 👩‍🍳

Cut the chicken 🍗 into small bite-size cubes
Peel and cut the garlic cloves in half 🧄
Peel and cut 15 slices of ginger
Cut the bell pepper in slices 🫑
Time to make the sauce: I used a glass to measure the ingredients and filled it one third (so about 70-80 ml depending on the glass) of soya sauce, one third of Shaoxing rice wine and a bit less than one third of a glass of sesame oil (The sauce can become too greasy otherwise plus we would need extra oil later)
Add one table spoon of sugar and mix well

Pre-heat your hob to a high temperature. Add some sesame oil and wait until it heats up. Once hot, add the garlic cloves, ginger and pepper. Cover with a lid until they become golden – about 7-8 minutes (you might need to add a bit of water so they don’t burn)

After the ingredients are brown and soft, add in the chicken cubes. Make sure you stir occasionally so the chicken is not burnt but cooked well on all sides.
Add salt to taste
Lower the temperature to medium and pour the sauce. Cover with a lid and let it cook for about 15 minutes. Don’t forget to stir occasionally

In the meantime you could boil some rice or noodles on the side, if you wish.
After 15 minutes, remove the lid and put the temperature back to high again so the sauce can thicken.
Add 10-12 fresh basil leaves and mix everything well for another 5 minutes
If the sauce has not thickened enough, you can add 1 table spoon of flour 😉 and stir well