| Did a friend forward this to you? Sign up here. An appreciation of cookbooks Earlier this year, Voraciously's 10-week newsletter Essential Cookbooks — which launched in 2020 as a sort of virtual cookbook club — won the International Association of Culinary Professionals 2021 Award for best newsletter! A hearty and heartfelt congratulations to the team that produced it, especially writer Charlotte Druckman, editor Matt Brooks and designer Amanda Soto! If you haven't subscribed to it yet, you should get on that. It's a brilliant concept, an appreciation of cookbooks and all they can teach us, and Druckman — who I count as a friend and fellow pastry fiend — brought incredible nuance and depth to the series. Part of why I love it is because I love cookbooks — and not so much because they provide recipes, but because they teach us so much about places and people we may know little about. Take, for instance, this recipe for Dou Chi Ji Ding, or Black Bean Chicken, from Fuchsia Dunlop's "Every Grain of Rice," which Druckman excerpted for the Essential Cookbooks newsletter. "It is interesting to see how modern dietary advice often echoes the age-old precepts of the Chinese table: 'Eat plenty of grains and vegetables and not much meat, reduce consumption of animal fats and eat very little sugar,'" Druckman writes. "And while I'm sharing a dish that features chicken here, the theme holds up: The fermented black beans carry this Black Bean Chicken, and I'm amazed by what they can do and how easy they are to find." The black beans here are douchi, or fermented black soybeans, an ingredient that predates soy sauce, with a similar salinity but more pungent flavor. They mellow out as they cook and can even melt into a sauce, as they do in this chicken stir-fry. Dou Chi Ji Ding is a Hunanese dish from the city of Liuyang. There, it's most commonly deep-fried, according to Dunlop. To streamline it for homecooks, she turned it into a stir-fry, a brilliant adaptation that nevertheless respects the dish's unique textures and flavors.  | Today's recipe |  Photos by Justin Tsucalas for the Washington Post; food styling by Nichole Bryant for the Washington Post | Dou Chi Ji Ding (Black Bean Chicken) - If you prefer less heat >> reduce the amount of ground chiles, or omit them.
- I would not substitute anything for the fermented black beans >> but if you don't have them, you can make the dish without. It will be missing its key ingredient, so adjust the other seasonings accordingly.
- I like this served with rice >> but noodles would work, too.
This recipe is from Week 5 of Voraciously's Essential Cookbooks newsletter series. For more recipes like this one, sign up here. It appears as published in Fuchsia Dunlop's "Every Grain of Rice," with minor edits for clarity. Storage Notes: Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Where to Buy: Light soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and fermented black beans can be found at well-stocked supermarkets, Asian markets and online. Want to save this recipe? View it on Voraciously here and click the bookmark icon below the serving size at the top of the page to add it to your Reading List. For easy printing and scaling, view this recipe in our Recipe Finder. Servings: 2
Total time: 30 mins IngredientsFor the marinade - 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons potato flour, cornstarch or potato starch
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce (not the same as reduced-sodium soy sauce)
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce, plus more as needed
For the chicken - 8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 2 thighs)
- 1 small green bell pepper, or 1/2 each red and green bell pepper, (about 8 ounces total)
- 3 tablespoons canola oil, divided
- 3 garlic cloves, sliced
- An equivalent amount (to the garlic) of ginger, peeled and sliced
- 2 tablespoons fermented black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 to 2 teaspoons ground chiles, to taste
- Fine sea salt, to taste
- 2 tablespoons finely sliced scallions, green and white parts
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Steps1. In a small bowl, stir together the wine, salt, potato flour, light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Cut the chicken into 3/8- to 3/4-inch cubes and add it to marinade, tossing to coat. 2. Cut the pepper(s) into small squares to match the size of the chicken cubes. In a wok or large nonstick skillet over a high heat, add 1 tablespoon of the oil and heat until shimmering. Add the peppers, and stir-fry until hot and slightly cooked, but still crisp, about 2 minutes. Transfer the peppers to a plate. 3. In the wok, add the remaining oil, swirl it around until it shimmers. Add the marinated chicken and stir-fry, tossing and separating the pieces. When they are starting to become opaque, add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the fermented black beans and stir a few times until fragrant. Then, add the ground chiles and return the peppers to the wok. 4. Continue to stir-fry until the chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes. Taste and add salt or soy sauce, as needed. Stir in the scallions and, off the heat, the sesame oil. Serve sizzling hot. Adapted from "Every Grain of Rice" by Fuchsia Dunlop (W.W. Norton, 2013). Tested by Ann Maloney. Nutrition information per serving (based on 2): Calories: 445; Total Fat: 34 g; Saturated Fat: 5 g; Cholesterol: 100 mg; Sodium: 1267 mg; Carbohydrates: 12 g; Dietary Fiber: 2 g; Sugars: 5 g; Protein: 25 g.  | Dessert | 🎧 "Tamo Daleko" by Branko Mataja.
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