Pictorial: Chicken Stir-fried w/ Butter Blk Pepper

[hzrt8w]

Chicken Stir-fried with Butter and Black Pepper (黑椒牛油雞丁)

Butter in Chinese cooking? Well, not in traditional recipes. I have been to a Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant in Garden Grove, California. They offer a dish named "House Special Chicken". They wouldn't tell me what the "House Special" sauce is made of, but the taste of butter and black pepper is unmistakable. I have since come up with my own version of Chicken Stir-fried with Butter and Black Pepper. The result is very nice.

This dish is very light. It doesn't use any heavy sauces as in traditional Chinese recipes except a small amount of light soy sauce.

Picture of the finished dish:

Serving suggestion: 3 to 4

The main ingredients:

(Clockwise from the top right) 3 pieces of chicken breast, about 2 pounds. Fresh black pepper (or use ground black pepper). 1 small chili. 1/4 of a stick of butter (one stick is 1/4 of a pound). 5 to 6 stalks of green onions. 4 to 5 cloves of garlic (not shown).

Preparations:

Trim the fat off the chicken breasts. Dice the chicken meat into 1 inch by 1 inch cubes.

To marinate the chicken meat: Use 2 tsp of sesame oil, 1 tsp of freshly grinded black pepper, a pinch of salt (suggest 1/4 tsp or to taste), 1 - 2 tsp of light soy sauce, 2 tsp of Shao Hsing cooking wine, 1 - 2 tsp of corn starch. Add all ingredients to a small mixing bowl.

Mix all ingredients. Set aside for at least 20 minutes before cooking.

Meanwhile, trim off the ends of the green onions. Chop into 1/4 inch pieces. Peel and mince 4 to 5 cloves of garlic. Slice about 1/2 of a small jalapeno chili. Use about 1/4 of a stick of butter (about 3 tblsp), cut into slices.

Cooking Instructions:

Velvet the chicken meat first. Heat up a pan/wok on the stove (set at high). Add 3 tblsp of cooking oil. Add chicken cubes.

Cook for a few minutes until all chicken meat barely turns white (slightly undercooked). Remove from pan.

Start with a clean pan. Stove set at high. Add 2 tblsp of cooking oil. Wait until oil starts fuming. Add butter. It would quickly melt.

Add minced garlic and sliced chili. Add 1/4 tsp of salt. Divide the chopped green onions into 2 portions. Add only the white portion of the green onions into the pan. Grind another 1 tsp of fresh black pepper onto the mixture. Dash in 1 to 2 tsp of white vinegar.

Add about 4 to 5 tblsp of chicken broth, and 1 tsp of sugar. Bring the mixture to a quick boil. Use some corn starch slurry (suggest 1/2 tsp with 1 tsp of water) to thicken the sauce a little bit.

Re-add the chicken into the mixture. Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Before removing the chicken from the pan, dash in 1 tsp of light soy sauce and add the remaining portion of chopped green onions. Stir well. Finished.

The finished dish. Grind some more fresh black pepper on top if desired. The quantity made in this recipe is a bit more than twice the portion shown in this picture.

Edited November 6, 2005 by hzrt8w (log)

[jo-mel]

"The quantity made in this recipe is a bit more than twice the portion shown in this picture."

I have to figure this one out!! LOL! So how much pepper did you use -- the tsp or the 1/2 tsp?

Somewhere in China, I had a vegetable dish (?snow peas or tips? I forget which), but it had the unmistakenable flavor of butter and soy sauce. It surprised me, even tho I'm aware of butter being used in the Tang and Yuan Dynasties. And altho I'd have to search my Chinese travel food log, I know it was not a Moslem restaurant.

Even now, when I stir/fry spinach, I add a little butter (or a sub) to the final flavoring.

Have you used any of the jarred Black Pepper Sauces? I've tried them and DO NOT LIKE THEM! I even tossed one jar! Black pepper dishes have been favorites of mine, and I often order them if they are on menu --- usually beef, scallops, shrimp and ocassionally chicken. Easy to make and not have to rely on the jarred stuff. A simple sauce and fresh pepper. Easy!

This dish will certainly be on the menu this week, but I might have to {{{{{groan}}}}} use a teeny little bit of fake butter along with the real stuff -- for diet sake.

[Jay Francis]

This was a great posting and I thank you for taking the time to do this one. I look forward to the day when I am technically savvy enough to start posting recipes with photographs. For me, this is the absolute best way to walk someone through a recipe.

[hzrt8w]

I have to figure this one out!!  LOL!  So how much pepper did you use -- the tsp or the 1/2 tsp?

.....

Have you used any of the jarred Black Pepper Sauces?

←

All measurements of sauces and spices in the receipes match with the serving suggestions and the amount of meat and other ingredients used. It is just that I use a small plate of Chinese design to pose the final photograph, it doesn't hold all the food. I just don't want the readers to think that 3 pieces of chicken breasts would come out as just one small plate! LOL!

I don't like those jarred Black Pepper Sauces either. I don't think they do it right - even with the LKK brand name. There other "Black Pepper Something" dishes that you had in restaurants are mostly fermented black bean base with black pepper added.

Since I bought this small pepper grinder, I wouldn't even go back to the ready-ground black pepper!

[jo-mel]

hrzt --

"The quantity made in this recipe is a bit more than twice the portion shown in this picture."

Got it! I was thinking "portion of black pepper" for some reason -- not the actual quantity of chicken on the plate.

And my question on the amount of black papper was also a case of misreading the pepper quantity and the amount of salt.

All is now straight in my mind -- and THAT is something!