Three Cups Chicken/San Bei Ji

When i was asked if i had a recipe for San Bei Ji aka Three Cups Chicken, i had to search the Internet to find out why this dish is so called and found a very good read at Wikipedia and that this dish is an offering to Wen Tian Xiang.

Many explained that the dish is so called for the 3 cups each of sesame oil, soya sauce and wine used. To me, it is more of a ratio to the ingredients than the cup used to measure - imagine the taste, if i had cooked with my dear friend, Nellie's cups - she has the largest cups you can find at her home. Perhaps, the cup used to measure in the original recipe could be the chinese wine cups which is about 1/3 cup - US measures.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup sesame oil
1 whole bulb garlic - peeled and minced

10 slices thin fresh ginger
2 serrano peppers, thinly sliced with seeds
2 lbs bone-in chicken pieces
1/3 cup soya sauce
1/3 cup shaoxing hua tiau wine

3 tablespoons sugar

2 cups thai basil
1 cup of 1-inch sections scallion

Method:

Heat up the sesame oil in a wok or a large skillet on high heat. Brown the chicken pieces, remove the browned chicken and set aside.

Add garlic, ginger and serrano peppers to the sesame oil, stir fry until fragrant.

Return the chicken pieces and stir in the soy sauce, rice wine and sugar.

Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to low.

Let cook, uncovered, until sauce thickens, about 30 minutes.

Turn heat back up to high and add basil and scallions. Stir to combine.

Serve over steamed rice.

Serves