Taiwanese three cup chicken

Taiwanese three cup chicken (san bei ji) is a tasty, comforting dish that's quick to make. With a great balance of flavors, and not too many ingredients, it's perfect for an easy weeknight meal. 

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When we went to Taiwan a number of years back, I wasn't sure at first what to expect food-wise. But the more research I did, the more I was excited to try different things. And we managed a delicious range from a grand banquet to street food in the night markets, and I took a cooking lesson, too. 

Many Taiwanese dishes, like it's history, have influences from other places. Sometimes it's simply adopted, other times you'll find local adaptations. Three cup chicken is one of the latter, and the Taiwanese verison is now well loved, and understandably so.

Origins of three cup chicken

Three cup chicken, san bei ji (also written sanbeiji) is originally from the Jiangxi province in South-eastern China. It was brought ot Taiwan by the Hakka people, an ethnic group that has a high population in the area the dish comes from. 

The name of the dish refers to the idea of having equal parts soy sauce, rice wine and oil in the sauce. At least in most modern interpreations, you normally have a slight imbalance in quantities to avoid the dish being overly salty or fatty.

The Jiangxi dish is typically a bit more complex while the Taiwanese version is simpler and less spicy. Unlike some other Chinese dishes, this isn't a dish with lots of sauce, it's relatively dry. Instead, you reduce the cooking liquids so that the chicken absorbs all the flavors. And flavorful it indeed is.

What cut of chicken should you use?

Traditionally, you make this with small pieces of chicken on the bone. However, it's less typical to have either a butcher hack up chunks of chicken for you in many places, or have a cleaver at home, so there are other options.

You are looking for a balance between pieces of chicken that cook quick enough to be cooked by the time the sauce reduces, but also not go dry as you allow that process to happen. One option is to make this dish with chicken wings, which is what some people do. Another is to use drumsticks, sometimes cut off the bone on one side to ensure they cook through. 

The other option is to go with boneless thigh meat and dice it. If you can get bonless skin-on, this is about as close as you can get without being on the bone. But I struggle to find that personally, so regular boneless (and skinless) also works.

Boneless chicken thighs don't go dry as breast meat can, but have the benefit of being that bit easier to eat than chicken on the bone. But feel free to adapt to what you have access to or prefer. If you use meat on the bone, use more as you will have more waste. 

Ingredients and substitutions

This dish has a relatively short list of ingredients and hopefully you won't need to make too many, if any substitutions. Beyond the chicken itself you need:

• Rice wine - Shaoxing rice wine is the most common here these days, and what I recommend. You can find it fairly readily in Asian markets as well as many supermarkets. 
• Soy sauce - most generally use a mix of light soy and dark soy for this, both Chinese styles. The dark soy adds to the color and has a slightly sweeter, more soy flavor. Light soy tastes more salty and is more for seasoning. So, a mix beteen the two gives the best of both. If you don't have both, I'd suggest a low sodium Japanese soy sauce as it almost like a compromise between the two, though the two are the best option if possible.
• Sesame oil - a little toasted sesame oil adds a lovely level of flavor to the dish. It's generally widely available and worth using for this and other dishes where a little sesame flavor works well. You could skip and use a little more plain oil but I do recommend. 
• Vegetable or other neutral oil - sesame oil can be a little overpowering and also has a lower smoke point, so it's worth mixing with a neutral oil for frying. Any like vegetable, canola or avocado oil would work.
• Ginger - fresh ginger adds a lovely aromatic spiciness to the dish. You just use whole slices that you can then discard (or nibble on!) after.
• Garlic - just like the ginger, the garlic adds lots of flavor. You use a generous amount and just halve them so you have nice chunks.
• Sugar - you only need a little to balance out the saltiness. Traditionally you would use rock sugar but brown sugar or white will also work just fine. 
• Thai basil - you finish the dish with some fresh Thai basil leaves that add an extra aromatic flavor and texture. If you don't have Thai basil, you could use Italian basil (sweet basil) instead. You can also use some chopped green onions - the green part - or simply skip.

Steps to make this dish

As mentioned, this is an easy dish to make and have two main stages. First, you fry the aromatics in the oils (ginger and garlic) to bring out their flavor, then add the chicken to give it some color and start it cooking. Cook over a medium heat so that you take care not to burn anything.

The next stage is braising. You add the other sauce ingredients - soy sauce, rice wine and sugar - then bring the sauce to a simmer. Reduce the heat and let it simmer away to reduce the liquid and let the chicken absorb all that flavor.

You'll notice the color of the chicken change from relatively pale to golden brown as it absorbs the sauce. The liquid becomes almost syrupy - leave at least a small amount as it will continue to reduce off the heat, too. Finish with the Thai basil then serve.

How to serve three cup chicken

This dish is perfect served over some fluffy rice. You might like to add some simple vegetables on the side, such as steamed broccoli or stir fried greens.

If you enjoy the slightly sweet-savory flavors in this dish, why not also try Taiwanese minced pork rice which has a similar base in it's sauce (and is also easy and tasty!).

Taiwanese three cup chicken is a tasty mix of flavors, that comes together easily, making it a great everyday meal. Easy, tasty and comforting too. In other words a great combination.

Try these other easy comforting dishes:

• Malabar prawn curry (this curry comes together more easily than you might think and is packed with tasty flavor)
• Chimichurri marinated steak (a little prep ahead of time, quick cook and fantastic flavors that goes with a whole range of sides)
• Chicken saltimbocca (a lovely combination of chicken, prosciutto, sage and a light savory sauce)
• And if you enjoy the flavors in this dish, try hong shao rao (red braised pork belly) which shares many similar flavors.
• Plus get more mains recipes and Chinese recipes in the archives.

See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline's Cooking Amazon store. 

I've drawn on a few recipes in creating this, including this Red House Spice recipe and this The Savory Chopstick recipe.

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