Recipe: Make Some Noise With Tony Tan’s Speedy Sichuan Bang Bang Chicken

Tony Tan is back. The respected chef has distilled his 2017 cookbook, Hong Kong Food City, into a sleeker, more focused format with Hong Kong Cult Recipes. Among its 80 city-spanning dishes is this bang bang chicken – a beloved Sichuan street-food classic.

“Also known as ‘strange-flavour chicken,’ bang bang chicken gets its name from the sound of a mallet pounding the meat on a chopping board,” Tan writes. “It’s essentially poached chicken dressed with a nutty, hot and numbing sauce.”

That sauce is the star. A punchy combo of roasted sesame paste, Chinkiang vinegar, chilli oil and crushed Sichuan peppercorns elevates the poached chicken well beyond its modest preparation. The chicken itself is intentionally understated – gently poached, hand-shredded and left to soak up the dressing like a sponge.

You could say cooking is in Tan’s DNA. Raised in Malaysia by a family of restaurateurs, he famously detoured from his university studies in Melbourne to work at (and eventually run) the now-closed Carlton institution Shakahari. After training at Paris’s La Varenne and London’s Leiths Culinary School, he opened Tatler’s Cafe in Sydney in 1983, winning fans with dishes like rabbit rendang and rocket salad with char siu pork. Following years as a touring teacher, SBS television host and Gourmet Traveller columnist, Tan now teaches at his cooking school in Trentham, Victoria – and maintains a vibrant kitchen garden.

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Bang bang chicken by Tony Tan

Serves 4–6
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1L (4 cups) chicken stock
1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
500g skinless chicken breast fillets or boned chicken Marylands (leg quarters)
Salt
1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds or peanuts
1 small red chilli, thinly sliced (optional)

Dressing
3 tbsp Chinese roasted sesame paste (see note)
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp chicken stock
1 tbsp Chinkiang vinegar
1 tbsp chilli oil
2 tsp sugar, or to taste
2 tsp sesame oil
½ tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp crushed Sichuan peppercorns

Salad
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 handful of coriander sprigs
1 small cucumber, cut into short batons

Method

Put the stock and Shaoxing rice wine in a saucepan and bring to the boil.

Rub the chicken with salt and poach in the simmering stock for 15–20 minutes or until just cooked.

Remove the chicken from the stock (reserve the stock for another use) and leave to cool.

Meanwhile, whisk the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and season to taste with salt.

Beat the chicken lightly with a rolling pin or mallet to loosen the fibres.

Using your fingers, shred the chicken into long strips along the grain.

Transfer to a serving plate, add the salad ingredients and toss to combine.

Drizzle with dressing to taste and sprinkle with sesame seeds or peanuts and sliced chilli, if using.

Serve with extra dressing on the side.

Notes

Chinese roasted sesame paste is available from select Asian grocers. If you don’t have any, use tahini.

This is an edited extract from Hong Kong Cult Recipes by Tony Tan. Published by Murdoch Books (RRP $29.99). Available now.

Additional reporting by Audrey Payne.