Hoisin Chicken is a unique dish in the Chinese-American cooking lexicon in that it incorporates hoisin sauce as the major ingredient. In my young manhood, Chinese-American cooking was exemplified by soy sauce.  I remember that when my family went to Friday night diner in our favorite  Chinatown restaurant, we put soy sauce on everything—except dessert, which always consisted of peeled oranges. Our palette has grown sincx then.

In this recipe, we simmer chicken breasts  in a mix of hoisin sauce, dry sherry and, yes,  soy sauce along with the usual spices and bell pepper. Note that you can use whatever bell  pepper (or pimento) you prefer, be it green, red or yellow.. It’s an easy enough dish to prepare, and the usual accompaniment is rice. In lie of rice you can substitute whatever grain you like, be it couscous, quinoa or other, or even pasta. In which case we prefer string pasta such as soba noodles, linguine or spaghetti. But if you want to use penne, macaroni or radiatore, go right ahead. It’s your kitchen and you rule.

HOISIN CHICKEN

Ingredients:

¼ cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry or sake
1 tablespoon soy sauce (or more if needed)
3 tablespoons peanut oil or olive oil
2 medium  green, red or yellow bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and slice about ¾-inch thick
2 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon ginger, peeled and finely grated
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced crosswise ¾-inch thick
thinly sliced scallions for garnish

Instructions:

  1. In a small bowl stir together the hoisin, sherry and soy sauce. Set aside.
  2.  In a large skillet or frypan, heat oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add bell peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to brown, about 4-5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds.
  3.  Add chicken and cook, stirring until light brown and opaque throughout, 7-8 minutes. Add hoisin mixture and cook, stirring until sauce lightly thickens, 1-2 minutes.  Turn off heat and season with additional soy sauce, if needed.
  4.  Garnish with thinly sliced scallions and serve.
    Yield: 4-6 servings.