Chicken stir-fry with sha cha sauce and bamboo shoots
Written by Estelle & Alice for The Wok House
In a jar of sha cha sauce, the oil rises to the top and covers a brown, grainy paste. I always stir right down to the bottom before spooning any out, otherwise you mostly get oil and the crumbs of dried fish stay in the jar. With bamboo shoots, spring onions and a little chilli oil, it makes a salty, punchy chicken dish to eat over a good helping of rice. Allow half an hour, rice included.
Sha cha sauce (shacha jiang) is a condiment from the cooking of Fujian, Chaozhou and Taiwan, where it seasons stir-fried beef and goes into hotpot dipping sauces. In Hokkien its name is pronounced sa-te, a transcription of South-East Asian satay, but it's nothing like a peanut sauce: it's an oily paste of dried fish and shrimp, garlic, shallot and chilli. The chicken is velveted first. Massaged with a little water, which it absorbs, then coated in cornflour, which holds that water in, it stays tender over a high heat. After that everything moves quickly: the chicken is seared and set aside, the aromatics go into the wok, then the sauce, and the chicken finishes cooking in it.
Chicken stir-fry with sha cha sauce and bamboo shoots
Chicken slices massaged with water and coated in cornflour, seared in the wok, then tossed in sha cha sauce with bamboo shoots, spring onions and chilli oil.
For 3 or 4 people, use a 32cm wok. The chicken goes in two batches so it stays in one layer, and the sauce is made in one go.
Ingredients
For the chicken
For the sauce
To cook and serve
For extra sauce (optional)
Equipment
- 32 to 38cm wok, stainless steel or carbon steel
- Wok spatula
- Sharp knife and chopping board
- 2 bowls and 2 small glasses
- Saucepan with a lid, for the rice
Method
Start the rice
Rinse 300g jasmine rice in cold water until the water runs almost clear. Cook it covered over a low heat in one and a half times its volume of water for 12 minutes, then leave it to stand off the heat for 10 minutes without lifting the lid. It will be ready before the chicken.
Massage the chicken
Cut the chicken into 5mm-thick slices, across the grain. Put them in a bowl with 3 tbsp cold water and massage them by hand for one to two minutes, until the water is absorbed and the meat turns sticky.
Coat the chicken
Add 1 ½ tbsp cornflour, 1 ½ tsp neutral oil and ¾ tsp sesame oil. Mix until every slice has a thin, glossy coating with no white lumps. Leave to rest while you prepare the rest.
Make the sauce
Stir the jar of sha cha right down to the bottom. In a bowl, mix 1 ½ tbsp Shaoxing rice wine, 3 tbsp sha cha sauce, 1 ½ tbsp light soy sauce, 1 ½ tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp chilli oil. For a saucier version, pour 120ml stock and ¾ tsp soy sauce into a glass, and in another glass mix ¾ tsp cornflour with 1 ½ tbsp cold water.
Prepare the aromatics
Finely chop the ginger and garlic. Cut the spring onions on the diagonal into 5cm lengths. Drain the bamboo shoots, rinse them in cold water to get rid of the tinned taste and slice them thinly.
Sear the chicken
Heat the wok over a high heat until it just starts to smoke. Sear the chicken in 2 batches: for each batch, pour in 1 tablespoon oil, spread the slices out in one layer and leave them untouched for 40 seconds, then turn them over for 40 seconds more. They should be white and golden in places, still slightly pink in the centre. Set them aside on a clean plate, never in the marinade bowl.
The aromatics
Lower the heat to medium-high. Add 1 tbsp oil and the ginger, and fry it for 10 seconds without letting it colour. Add the garlic and spring onions and stir for 15 seconds: the garlic should smell strong without turning golden.
Return the chicken
Turn the heat up as high as it goes. Return the chicken with the juices left on the plate, add the bamboo shoots and stir-fry for 30 seconds, while the wok gets its heat back.
Thicken the sauce
Pour the sauce in a ring around the side of the wok: it should sizzle as it hits the metal. Stir-fry for a minute and a half without stopping. The cornflour from the marinade thickens the sauce, which turns glossy and clings to the slices. Cut the thickest slice open: there should be no pink left in the middle.
Adjust and serve
If the sauce catches on the bottom or gets too thick, add up to 3 tbsp stock, a spoonful at a time. For the saucier version, pour in the stock and soy mixture, then the cornflour mixture after giving it a stir, and stir-fry for 20 seconds, until the sauce coats the spatula. Serve straight away over the hot rice.
Wok tips
- The chicken has to fit in a single layer. Piled up, it releases its water, the cornflour sticks to the metal and the slices boil instead of searing. On a home hob, two small batches brown better than one big one.
- In a stainless steel wok, heat it empty until a drop of water forms a bead that rolls around without evaporating, then add the oil: the cornflour-coated chicken won't stick. In a carbon steel wok, it's well-kept seasoning that stops the chicken sticking.
- Never heat a non-stick wok empty until it smokes: add the oil from the start and begin cooking when it shimmers.
- On induction, stay at full power and stir-fry with the spatula without lifting the wok: as soon as it leaves the hob, it stops heating.
Variations
- Chicken with vegetables, for 4 people: add 1 red pepper, cut into strips, and 100g mangetout just after the aromatics, and stir-fry for 1 minute before returning the chicken. Broccoli (200g small florets) needs blanching for 1 minute in boiling water first.
- Sha cha beef, as in Taiwan: 500g flank or rump steak, thinly sliced, the same marinade, and 30 seconds of searing per side.
- Without sha cha sauce: there's no exact equivalent. For 4 people, replace the 3 tablespoons with 2 tablespoons oyster sauce and 1 tablespoon extra chilli oil. The dish stays salty and punchy, without the taste of dried fish.
- Instead of Shaoxing rice wine: the same amount of dry sherry, or of chicken stock.
Storage
Two days in the fridge in an airtight container. Reheat in the wok over a high heat with 1 tablespoon stock, for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, until the chicken is piping hot all the way through. Keep the rice separate: it soaks up the sauce and turns mushy.
The Yakushi Wok Family Size
Uncoated stainless steel, Ø 38cm, no seasoning needed
Frequently asked questions
What is sha cha sauce and where can I buy it?
An oily paste made from soybean oil, dried fish and shrimp, garlic, shallot and chilli, with a salty seafood flavour. It's sold in jars in Asian supermarkets, often labelled barbecue sauce, although it has nothing to do with American barbecue sauce, char siu sauce or peanut satay sauce. It contains fish and shellfish, which is worth knowing if you have an allergy.
Chicken breast or thigh?
Both work. Thinly sliced breast stays tender thanks to the marinade, as long as you don't overcook it. Boneless thigh is more forgiving: allow 20 seconds more per side when searing.
Is this chicken very spicy?
With the amount of chilli oil given, it has a kick without burning, and the sha cha itself is only mildly hot. For a mild dish, use a third of the chilli oil and put the jar on the table for anyone who wants more.
How do I know when the chicken is cooked?
Cut open the thickest slice at the end of the sauce step: the flesh should be white all the way through, with no trace of pink, and the juices should run clear. If not, give it 30 seconds more over a high heat, with a spoonful of stock if the sauce is catching.
