How to make black pepper chicken – a Chinese restaurant favourite you can make at home
- The secret to perfecting this dish is using an equal amount of black pepper
- If cooking a whole chicken, ask the butcher to cut it into bite-size pieces
Black pepper chicken is a popular restaurant dish, but there’s a secret to making a good one: use an equal amount of white pepper; the flavour will be so much better than if you used just black peppercorns. It’s a bit of a bother, but if you can, grind both types of peppercorn just before cooking the dish, instead of relying on pre-ground spices.
Black pepper chicken
I like to use a whole chicken for this dish, but if you prefer, use only dark meat (bone-in legs and thighs), or wings (cut them in two between the middle and drumette joints), or boneless breast. With the latter, you need to be careful, because the meat will be dry if it’s overcooked; after pre-frying the breast, it needs to be simmered only briefly with the rest of the ingredients.
If using a whole chicken, have the butcher cut it through the bone into bite-size pieces, Chinese-style. The only pieces you won’t need are the head (which can be discarded) and the feet (save them in the freezer and use them the next time you make chicken stock).
1 fresh chicken, about 1.2kg, cut through the bone into bite-size pieces
20ml light soy sauce
20ml dark soy sauce
