Big Plate Chicken (Da Pan Ji)

Name: Big Plate Chicken (Da Pan Ji)
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: Serves 4–6
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 1.5 kg chicken thighs and drumsticks, on the bone, each cut to 2–3 pieces (the bone-in's flavour the braise's own argument); 4 tbsp (60 ml) neutral oil; 3 tbsp (40 g) sugar, for the caramel's amber; 2 tbsp (30 g) doubanjiang, mashed; 8 whole dried chillies, 1 tbsp (10 g) whole cumin seeds, 1 tsp (5 g) Sichuan pepper; 6 cloves garlic, 1 thumb ginger, sliced (40 g); 2 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick; 2 tbsp (30 ml) light soy, 1 tbsp (15 ml) dark soy; 3 tbsp (45 ml) Shaoxing wine; 500 ml / 510 g water or the chicken's stock; 600 g potatoes, peeled and quartered (the waxy's shape-holding, or the floury's thickening — either honest); 2 onions (300 g), cut to thick wedges; 2 green peppers (250 g), cut to pieces; 300 g plain flour, 150 ml / 150 g water, ½ tsp (2 g) salt — kneaded to a firm dough, rested 30 minutes, and hand-cut to the belt's width (the biang biang record's rolling-and-cutting at the 2 cm's belt)

Chinese · Medium · Serves 4–6

The Xinjiang canon's grandest one-pot and the frontier's whole argument in a single dish: chicken on the bone braised in the doubanjiang-and-soy's red with the whole potatoes and the belt-wide hand-cut noodles, served on the giant plate the dish's own name carries — the da pan ji ("big plate chicken") that the Xinjiang roadhouses cook in the wok's largest scale and the truckers eat by the shared bowl. The technique is the chicken's braise in the cumin-and-chilli's western register and the belt noodles' finish — the starch cooking in the braise's own broth.

Quantities live in the recipe card.

The chicken

The braise's build

The vegetables

either honest)

The belt noodles — the finish

kneaded to a firm dough, rested 30 minutes, and hand-cut to the belt's width (the biang biang record's rolling-and-cutting at the 2 cm's belt)

- The chicken's pieces blanched 3 minutes in the boiling water (the impurities' lift), the caramel's sugar measured, and the belt noodles' dough made and resting — the noodles' hand-cut at the braise's final quarter.

Step 1. The caramel's amber and the chicken's lacquer — the red-braise master's law. The oil at the medium-low, the sugar melted slowly to the deep amber (4–6 minutes — the hong shao record's own doctrine), and the blanched chicken pieces stirred through — the lacquer's coat at the amber's contact, each piece coloured in the caramel's gloss. Checkpoint — the chicken's pieces are amber-lacquered and the wok's fragrance carries the caramel's first depth — the red-cooking's foundation, and the doubanjiang and the cumin's western register about to join.

Step 2. The braise's build and the potatoes' 35 minutes. The doubanjiang, chillies, cumin, Sichuan pepper, garlic, ginger, and spices fried 45 seconds in the lacquered fat (the doctrine's bao xiang at the frontier's aromatics), the wine and soy through, and the water poured in — the whole potatoes nestled and the braise simmered, covered, 35 minutes at the barest patience (the surface's rare bubble at the 95 °C murmur, never the rolling boil that shreds the chicken from its bone). Checkpoint — at 35 minutes: the chicken's meat yields at the bone's tug, the potatoes are tender at the fork's pierce (the floury's edge softening to the braise's thickening), and the broth has reduced to a dark, cumin-scented, spoon-coating sauce — the frontier's red at its fullest.

Step 3. The onions' and peppers' last 10, and the noodles' finish. The onion wedges and the green peppers stirred through for the final 10 minutes (their texture's hold — the crunch's argument at the braise's softness), and the hand-cut belt noodles dropped into the simmering braise — the noodles cooking in the broth's own body for their final 4–5 minutes (the belt's broad chew at the braise's sauce, the starch's own thickening joining the broth's) — or the honest alternative: the noodles boiled separately and ladled under at the plate. Checkpoint — the finished dish: the chicken and the potatoes in the dark, cumin-scented sauce, the onions' and peppers' colour through, and the belt noodles broad and glossy in the broth — the whole transferred to the giant plate (the dish's own name) and the family's shared eating at the table. Chef’s Note — the belt noodles' finish — cooked directly in the braise's broth or boiled and served beneath — is the record's one honest choice, and each has its argument: the in-braise noodles (the roadhouse's traditional) drink the broth's flavour through their broad surface as they cook, their own starch's release thickening the sauce to the noodles' cling — the whole dish's flavour integrated through the starch's medium — where the boiled-and-drained version (the home kitchen's cleaner) delivers the broth's undiluted sauce at the chicken's side and the noodle's plain chew at the plate's base. The frontier's own tradition runs the in-braise (the roadhouse's single-wok efficiency), and the record's honest default follows; the boiled version the home's working tolerance, and the family's own argument the traditional settling.

Doneness & Quality Checkpoints

The caramel: the amber's edge, the chicken's lacquer — the red-cooking's foundation.
The braise: the doubanjiang-and-cumin's bloom, the 35 minutes' patience to the bone's yield.
The finish: the onions' and peppers' crunch, the belt noodles' broad chew in the broth.

Finish & Plate

The giant plate — the dish's own name's vessel — the chicken and the potatoes and the noodles in the dark sauce, the cumin's fragrance rising, and the family's shared chopsticks the traditional service. The leftover (a rarity at the shared table) improves overnight and keeps 3 days.