Cooking with Colm O'Gorman: Szechuan chicken and aubergine

I have a beautiful Chinese dish for you this week, perfect for a weekend treat. This recipe is a definite crowd pleaser. It is a lovely mix of a little spicy and a little sweet with beautiful layers of flavour.

Szechuan pepper is the key ingredient in this recipe. This lovely pink spice is actually not a peppercorn at all, instead it is the dried husk of the seeds of a shrub that comes from the citrus family. It produces a lovely tingly, spicy, slightly bitter citrus flavour that works beautifully with chilli. When making this dish do not increase the amount of Szechuan pepper to make it hotter, that will not work. Some of the molecules contained in Szechuan pepper have a numbing effect, hence the tingling sensation, and if you use more the numbness will be too much and overpower the dish. Instead add more chilli flakes if you want more heat.

If you cannot get hold of any Szechuan pepper, you can use a mix of pink or black peppercorns and whole coriander seeds, along with a little grated lemon zest. That said you should be able to get some genuine Szechuan pepper easily enough from any Asian supermarket or an online outlet. It is a handy spice to have, and I promise once you taste this dish you will want to make it again and again.

We always have this with some boiled rice and a green vegetable; some steamed tender stem broccoli is always good, or better yet you could stir fry some sugar snap peas and chopped tender stem broccoli in toasted sesame oil with chopped garlic and a good splash of soy sauce.

This is a gorgeous vegan dish if you make it with just the aubergine and add some crispy fried tofu. Or you can skip the chicken and serve it as a side dish to another meat or fish dish.

Szechuan chicken and aubergine

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

This is a lovely mix of a little spicy and a little sweet, with beautiful layers of flavour. It's perfect for a weekend treat and is a definite crowd pleaser. Once you taste this dish, you will want to make it again and again

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 2 aubergines

• 250g boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts

• 5 garlic cloves

• 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger

• 1 tsp Szechuan peppercorns

• 60ml soy sauce

• 1 tbsp sesame oil, plus more for frying

• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar

• 3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine or sherry

• 1 tsp chilli flakes

• 30g coconut or brown sugar

• 2 tsp cornflour plus more to dust the chicken before deep frying

• 250ml sunflower oil

• spring onion, to serve

• roasted peanuts, to serve.

Method

1. Cut the stalk off the aubergines. Slice them in half lengthwise and then cut each half into thirds, again lengthwise. Now cut these wedges into 3cm chunks.

2. Put them into a big bowl of water with two teaspoons of salt. Weigh them down with a plate and let them soak for 20 minutes before draining and then dry them with a clean towel.

3. Dice the chicken into 2.5cm chunks. Grate the ginger, adding half of it and two grated cloves of garlic to a bowl big enough to marinade thechicken. Add two tablespoons of rice wine and stir well to combine. Add in the chicken and stir to coat the meat well.

4. Let the chicken marinade on your countertop as you prepare the rest of the dish.

5. Heat one tablespoon of sesame oil in a heavy pan over a high heat. Toss the aubergine in the cornflour and add half to the hot pan. You will need to cook the aubergine in two batches. You want to get it a little brown all over, so let one side cook for three to four minutes, then turn it over. When it is done, transfer it to a plate and cook the next batch.

6. Put the soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, cooking wine, sugar and chilli flakes into a bowl.

7. Toast the Szechuan peppercorns in a dry pan. Grind them into a fine powder and add to the bowl, along with one finely grated clove of garlic. Mix well.

8. Heat 250ml or so of sunflower oil in a wok or a saucepan. You want enough to fry the chicken in two batches, so it should be about 5cm deep.

9. Scatter some cornflour on a plate and toss half of the marinated chicken in the cornflour, coating it well. When the oil gets to 180c, put in the coated chicken and toss the other half in more cornflour.

10. Fry the chicken for about two to three minutes and transfer it to some kitchen towel or a wire rack to drain. Repeat to cook the rest of the chicken. Turn down the heat under the wok, you will need it later to give the chicken a second short fry .

11. Roughly chop the remaining three cloves of garlic and add it and the last of the ginger to the pan that you used to cook the aubergine.

12. Sautee for two minutes, stirring to avoid burning the garlic beforeadding the sauce and the cookedaubergine.

13. Stir well and cook for two to three minutes until the sauce gets a little thicker and sticky.

14. Turn up the heat under the wok. When your oil is back to around 180˚C, pop all the chicken in for another two minutes — you can do this in one batch.

15. Transfer the fried chicken to the pan with the aubergine and sauce and stir it through to get the chicken well coated.

16. Serve immediately so that the chicken still has some nicecrispiness.