Cantonese Chicken in Black Bean Sauce

Nothing says Valentine's Day like cheap Chinese food; you might as well make it at home instead of ordering in while you watch Dr. Who and complain to your friends about being single.  Any day playing with new ingredients is a good day.  And a day where my Chinese food tastes like it's been cooked by a guy who came here on a boat, doesn't speak English, and hasn't cleaned his wok in 3 years is an awesome day.  So this chicken cooked in a Cantonese-style black bean sauce was pretty much the high point of last week, and I wanted to share.

Chicken in Black Bean Sauce - a Cantonese mainstay.  This one is from a newer version, loaded with vegetables and a bit more flavor.  See notes at the end.

Unless you've lived under a rock for your whole life, you've probably heard of Shrimp in Lobster Sauce, and maybe even ribs or clams steamed in black bean sauce.  This method of cooking is prototypical of Cantonese cuisine, and has been called 'fish-cooked' because the black bean sauce is so commonly served with fish dishes.  But I wanted to start simple, with chicken, in a standard recipe I found in an old book on Chinese regional cuisines.  No substitutions, no tweaks, just the bare bones recipe.  And I wasn't disappointed.  Fermented black beans are the star of this dish, a salted bean sold in vacuum-packed bags at most Asian grocery stores.

The instructions are short and sweet, but the process is critical.  Make sure you have everything at the ready before you heat up your wok.  This is a quick dish, and can be ruined by overcooking.  And when it says rinse the fermented beans, do it - these beans don't mess around, and rinsing them turns an overly pungent, hyper-salted taste into a more mild, savoury kick that's unlike any other ingredient I've come across in Chinese cooking.

Black Bean Garlic Chicken (Cantonese "Fish-Cooked" Chicken in Black Bean Sauce)

by Martin Yan

• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/4 cup chicken stock or broth
• 2 tbsp Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp fermented black beans, rinsed, drained, and mashed
• 1/2 cup diced yellow onions
• 1 green onion (green part only), cut into 1" lengths
• 2 tsp minced ginger
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp dried chili flakes
• 1 tsp cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tsp water

Get your stuff together before you start.

Toss chicken in 1 tbsp soy sauce and cornstarch.  Let stand for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, stir stock, rice wine, 2 tsp soy sauce, and sugar together in a small bowl.

Heat a wok over high heat.  Pour in oil and swirl to coat sides.  Add chicken and stir-fry until no longer pink, 2.5-3 minutes.

Stir-fry up those chicken bits.  And ignore that massive box of brownies on the counter - they're not for you.

Cook the chicken until it's mostly done, keeping in mind that it will cook another 3 minutes or so afterwards.  2-3 minutes here should do it.

Add the black beans, yellow onions, green onions, ginger, garlic, and chili flakes.  Stir-fry 1-2 minutes.  Pour in sauce and dissolved cornstarch and cook, stirring, until sauce boils and thickens, 30 seconds.  Serve immediately.

Stir-fry with the beans and aromatics after chicken is mostly cooked through

The sauce is a bit hazy, so I might use tapioca starch next time.  Trust me, it's better than the restaurant equivalent, unless you live near one of the few Chinatowns left with actual Chinese people in it.

Here's another take from a few months later, with red bell pepper added as well

Update (5/12/13): I have since made this dish a few more times, with bell peppers and a few more vegetables.  To cook the dish this way, first quickly stir-fry half of a bell pepper and whatever other vegetables you like in a bit of oil, then set aside.  Follow the recipe until just before adding the sauce.  Now add the vegetables back in, and pick up where the recipe left off.  If you're adding a quick-cooking green like bok choy or spinach, add that just before adding the sauce, and stir-fry for another 30 seconds before moving forward.