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Hóng Kitchen

Chongqing Chicken (La Zi Ji)

Chinese · Medium · Serves 4

Chongqing Chicken (La Zi Ji)
Chongqing Chicken (La Zi Ji)
The Chongqing canon's fiercest export and the chilli-mountain doctrine's master: dice of chicken fried to their crisp and tossed in a wok that holds more whole dried chillies than chicken — the la zi ji ("chilli chicken," the "spicy-number" at the takeaway's own translation) whose visible architecture is the chilli's red mountain and the Sichuan pepper's numbing running through. The technique is the chilli's own fry (the whole chillies' brief bloom without the burn) and the chicken's double-crisp.

Quantities live in the recipe card.

The chicken and its coat

  • 30 minutes
  • the crisp's own architecture)

The chilli mountain

The fry and the finish

- The chillies' snipping and the seeds' shaking (the seeds' discard the heat's moderation — the whole chilli's wall the fragrance's own), the chicken's marinade and its starch's toss, and the oil's thermometer at the ready.
Step 1. The chicken's double fry — the fish master's law. The first at 180 °C (3 minutes, in batches, to the pale set and the cooked interior), the second at 190 °C (90 seconds, all at once, to the deep-gold crisp). Checkpoint — the dice's shells are deep gold and audibly crisp at the rack's tap — the double-fry's architecture (the same doctrine the General Tso's taught), and the interior's juicy held within.
Step 2. The chilli mountain's bloom — 45 seconds at the wok's medium. 2 tbsp of the frying oil in the clean wok at the medium heat (not the maximum — the chilli's delicate wall the patience's own demand), and the whole chillies and the Sichuan pepper stirred for 30–45 seconds — the chillies' colour deepening and their fragrance lifting, the pepper's crackle — then the garlic and ginger for 10 seconds. Checkpoint — the chillies are darkened a shade and glossy in the oil (never blackened — the burnt chilli's bitterness the common failure at this stage), and the wok's fragrance carries the chilli's scorched fruit and the pepper's numbing in combined lift — the dish's aromatic base, built in the oil at the medium's patience.
Step 3. The marriage — the crisp's fold at the full heat. The wok's heat raised, the fried chicken's dice returned, and the whole tossed at the maximum through 60–90 seconds — the chilli mountain's every piece clinging to the chicken's shells, the sugar and salt's scatter, and the scallion greens and sesame's finish. Checkpoint — the eating test: the first dice's bite — the shell's shatter and the chilli's wall's own tender chew (the fried chilli is eaten — the mountain's own argument, the wall's fruit the genuine heat) — and the Sichuan pepper's numbing arriving a beat behind — the Chongqing canon's fiercest export, complete. Chef’s Note — the chilli-mountain's ratio — the 30-plus whole chillies to the 600 g of chicken, the chillies' visual volume genuinely exceeding the chicken's — is the dish's own identity and its difference from the chilli-garnished stir-fries of the milder registers: the la zi ji's dried chillies are a cooking ingredient in their own volume (their walls frying to a tender, edible chew at the wok's heat, and their combined fruit the sauce's own medium), not the few-chilli infusion of the kung pao's measured bloom. The diner eats the chilli (the wall's chew at the tender and the seeds' discard at the plate's edge by personal preference) and the chicken together — the mountain's own argument at every bite, and the plate's red architecture the dish's visual identity.
Chongqing Chicken (La Zi Ji)

Chongqing Chicken (La Zi Ji)

Prep: 20 minutes, plus 30 minutes marinating · Cook: 12 minutes · Total: About 1 hour · Serves 4

Ingredients

The chicken and its coat

  • 600 g chicken thighs, cut to 2 cm dice
  • 1 tbsp (15 ml) soy, 1 tbsp (15 ml) Shaoxing, 1 tsp (5 g) salt — 30 minutes
  • 3 tbsp (30 g) cornstarch, tossed through at the fry's edge (the dry coat — the crisp's own architecture)

The chilli mountain

  • 30–40 whole dried chillies (the er jing tiao's or the supermarket's whole red), snipped in half
  • 1 tbsp (10 g) Sichuan peppercorns
  • 6 cloves garlic, sliced (25 g)
  • 1 thumb ginger, sliced (15 g)
  • 3 scallions, whites and greens separated

The fry and the finish

  • 400 ml neutral oil, for the chicken's deep-shallow fry (the fish master's thermometer at 180 °C, then 190 °C)
  • 1 tsp (3 g) sugar, ½ tsp (2 g) salt (the finish's scatter)
  • 1 tbsp (10 g) toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

  1. The chicken's double fry — the fish master's law. The first at 180 °C (3 minutes, in batches, to the pale set and the cooked interior), the second at 190 °C (90 seconds, all at once, to the deep-gold crisp). Checkpoint — the dice's shells are deep gold and audibly crisp at the rack's tap — the double-fry's architecture (the same doctrine the General Tso's taught), and the interior's juicy held within.
  2. The chilli mountain's bloom — 45 seconds at the wok's medium. 2 tbsp of the frying oil in the clean wok at the medium heat (not the maximum — the chilli's delicate wall the patience's own demand), and the whole chillies and the Sichuan pepper stirred for 30–45 seconds — the chillies' colour deepening and their fragrance lifting, the pepper's crackle — then the garlic and ginger for 10 seconds. Checkpoint — the chillies are darkened a shade and glossy in the oil (never blackened — the burnt chilli's bitterness the common failure at this stage), and the wok's fragrance carries the chilli's scorched fruit and the pepper's numbing in combined lift — the dish's aromatic base, built in the oil at the medium's patience.
  3. The marriage — the crisp's fold at the full heat. The wok's heat raised, the fried chicken's dice returned, and the whole tossed at the maximum through 60–90 seconds — the chilli mountain's every piece clinging to the chicken's shells, the sugar and salt's scatter, and the scallion greens and sesame's finish. Checkpoint — the eating test: the first dice's bite — the shell's shatter and the chilli's wall's own tender chew (the fried chilli is eaten — the mountain's own argument, the wall's fruit the genuine heat) — and the Sichuan pepper's numbing arriving a beat behind — the Chongqing canon's fiercest export, complete.

Storage, Make-Ahead & Variations

- The dish serves the moment and the leftover keeps 2 days (the chilli's depth improving overnight — the Sichuan canon's shared law). The la zi frog and the la zi fish run this master's mountain doctrine. - The canon's seat: the chilli-mountain doctrine's master — the whole chilli's volume and the double-crisp's marriage — at the Chongqing canon's fiercest table.