Big plate chicken with hand-pulled noodles (da pan ji)
Written by Estelle & Alice for The Wok House
The strip of dough slaps against the worktop and gets longer with every bounce. It's daunting the first time, and yet it's my favourite moment in the recipe. The dough is just flour and salted water. It rests for an hour, oiled and covered in cling film, and that rest makes it supple enough to stretch without tearing. Allow 2 hours in all, including an hour when it rests on its own while you prepare the chicken.
Da pan ji, "big plate chicken", comes from Xinjiang, in north-west China. The most common story has it created in the late 1980s or the 1990s in Shawan, by a cook from Sichuan, which would explain the doubanjiang and the Sichuan pepper. Truck-stop restaurants then made it known across the country. The chicken braises with potatoes and whole spices, the peppers only go in at the end so they stay crunchy, and everything is poured over wide hand-pulled noodles. At the table, the noodles get mixed into the sauce, so you need to keep enough of it in the bottom of the wok.
Xinjiang big plate chicken with hand-pulled noodles (da pan ji)
Chicken thighs seared in the wok then braised with doubanjiang, whole spices, dried chillies and potatoes, served on wide hand-pulled noodles.
For 3 to 6 people, use a 32cm wok with a lid: the chicken sears in 2 or 3 batches, then everything braises together.
Ingredients
For the noodles
For the braise
Vegetables and to serve
Equipment
- 32cm wok with a lid
- Large saucepan for the noodles
- Rolling pin
- Cling film
- Cleaver, if you keep the bone in
Method
Make the dough
In a large bowl, mix 300g flour and ¼ tsp salt. Pour in 150ml water a little at a time, stirring with chopsticks, until there's no dry flour left. Gather it into a ball, cover and leave to rest for 10 minutes, then knead for 2 minutes: the dough should be smooth and no longer stick to your fingers.
Shape the dough and let it rest
Cut the dough into pieces of about 75g and roll each one into a 10cm log. Coat them all over with 1 tbsp oil, put them on a plate and cover with cling film. Leave to rest for at least 1 hour at room temperature, or 2 hours if your dough tends to tear.
Prepare the chicken and vegetables
While the dough rests, cut the chicken into 4cm pieces, the potatoes into 2cm cubes, the peppers and onion into 3cm pieces, and the spring onions into 3cm lengths. Put the ginger, garlic, star anise, cassia, bay leaf, chillies and Sichuan peppercorns together in a small dish.
Sear the chicken
Heat the wok over a high heat until it's lightly smoking. Sear the chicken in 2 batches: for each batch, add 1 tablespoon of oil, spread the pieces out in one layer, leave them for 2 minutes without touching them, then stir-fry for 2 minutes more. The meat should have turned white and be starting to brown. Set aside on a plate.
The aromatics
Turn the heat down to medium. Add 1 tbsp oil and 1 ½ tbsp doubanjiang, then stir for 30 seconds: the oil turns red. Add everything from the small dish and stir-fry for 30 seconds more, until the garlic starts to turn golden. The chillies should darken without turning black.
Braise with the potatoes
Return the chicken and its juices to the wok, add 1 tsp sugar and 1 ½ tbsp dark soy sauce, then stir to colour the meat. Add the potatoes and 400ml hot water, bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes over a medium-low heat. The potatoes are done when the tip of a knife goes through them with no resistance. Meanwhile, bring a large saucepan of water to the boil for the noodles.
Add the peppers
Take off the lid, add the peppers and onion, and cook for 3 minutes uncovered, stirring: the peppers should stay slightly crunchy. You need enough sauce to coat the noodles; if the bottom starts to catch, add a little hot water. Taste, adjust the salt, add the spring onions and turn off the heat.
Pull the noodles
Roll a piece of dough into a rectangle of about 15 by 6cm. Hold it by both ends and pull your arms apart in a slow, steady movement, bouncing the middle of the strip on the worktop: it gets longer with each bounce. Stop when it's 3 to 4cm wide and drop it straight into the boiling water. Do the same with the other pieces.
Cook the noodles
Cook for 1 to 2 minutes after the last noodle goes in. They're ready when they float to the surface, soft but still slightly chewy. Drain them.
Assemble and serve
If the chicken has cooled, reheat it for a minute over a high heat. Lift the noodles into a large shallow dish with chopsticks, pour the chicken, vegetables and all the sauce over them, then scatter over the coriander. Serve straight away: everyone mixes the noodles into the sauce before helping themselves, and leaves the star anise, cassia and bay leaf to one side.
Wok tips
- The braising happens under a lid: the potatoes steam and the sauce doesn't evaporate. Without a lid, add hot water as it cooks, or switch to a wok with a lid.
- Sear the chicken in batches, without the pieces overlapping. Crowded together, they release their water and boil instead of browning, and the sauce loses that roasted-meat flavour.
- On induction, a flat-bottomed wok heats up fast and hard: turn down to medium power before adding the doubanjiang and keep stirring. It burns in seconds and turns bitter.
- A carbon steel wok that's well seasoned can take fifteen minutes of braising. Don't leave the leftovers in the wok overnight: transfer them, rinse the wok with hot water, dry it over the heat and wipe in a drop of oil.
Variations
- Without hand-pulled noodles: 400g fresh pappardelle or shop-bought wide wheat noodles, cooked as the packet says. The recipe then takes 50 minutes.
- Without doubanjiang: 1 tablespoon of chilli paste (sambal oelek or harissa) and 1 teaspoon of miso, which brings the fermented flavour.
- Without Sichuan peppercorns: 1 teaspoon of crushed pink peppercorns and the zest of half a lemon, added with the peppers. You lose the tingle on the lips, but the lemony scent stays.
- Narrower noodles: before pulling, press a chopstick along the length of the strip, then tear it along that line once it's pulled. You get two noodles half as wide.
Storage
The braised chicken keeps for 3 days in the fridge in a sealed container, and it tastes even better the next day. Reheat it in the wok, covered, over a medium heat, with a splash of water. Cooked noodles stick together and go soft: pull and cook them just before serving.
The Shirane Japanese Wok
Carbon steel, Ø 32cm, free lid
Frequently asked questions
What does da pan ji mean?
Da pan ji means "big plate chicken": the dish arrives on a large platter set in the middle of the table, with the noodles underneath and the chicken and sauce on top. It comes from Xinjiang, in north-west China, and has spread across the whole country.
Why do my noodles break when I pull them?
Most often, the dough hasn't rested long enough. Give it 2 hours, well oiled under the cling film, and pull more slowly, without jerking. If it felt firm when you kneaded it, add a tablespoon of water next time.
What flour should I use for hand-pulled noodles?
Plain flour works. Strong white bread flour, which has more protein, makes a more elastic dough that breaks less. Not all flours absorb the same amount of water: aim for a soft dough that doesn't stick to your fingers.
Is da pan ji very spicy?
It's hot without going too far: the heat comes from the doubanjiang and the dried chillies, left whole. For a milder dish, use 3 or 4 chillies; for more heat, cut them in half before they go into the wok.
