Sticky Rice with Sichuan Chicken

Wooden spoon scoops up a portion of cooked glutinous rice and marinated chicken from a white pan

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Sticky Rice with Sichuan Chicken

This steamed chicken and rice is packed with texture and flavor, thanks to the glutinous chewy rice, spicy/numbing qualities of Sichuan pepper and an umami-rich marinade on the chicken. You may need to visit your closest Asian grocery store for this dish, but it's very easy to make and you'll want to eat it over and over.

Prep Time20

Cook Time30

Total Time50

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Asian, Chinese

Keyword: chicken rice, sichuan chicken, sticky rice, szechuan chicken

Servings:

Calories: 605kcal

Ingredients

6 skinned and boned chicken thighs about 1lb 6oz, very well trimmed and diced into 1 inch/2.5cm pieces
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine or dry sherry, see notes
2 tablespoons Toban Djan chilli bean sauce or other chilli sauce, see notes
1 tablespoon peanut oil
3 cloves garlic crushed
1 1/2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns lightly crushed with a mortar and pestle or the back of a heavy knife, see notes
1 1/2 cups glutinous rice well rinsed, see notes
2 cups chicken stock or broth room temperature
1/2 cup cilantro leaves coriander leaves, for serving
2 green onions spring onions, sliced, for serving
1 teaspoon sesame oil for serving

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Have your chicken trimmed, diced and ready to go. Put the soy sauce, honey, Shaoxing wine, chilli bean sauce, peanut oil, garlic and Sichuan pepper into a medium bowl, add the chicken and mix well to coat. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes.
3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine, 2 tablespoons Toban Djan chilli bean sauce, 1 tablespoon peanut oil, 3 cloves garlic, 1 1/2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns, 6 skinned and boned chicken thighs
Preheat your steam oven to Steam, 212°F/100°C (100% humidity).
Make sure your rice is well rinsed until it runs clear, and then drained thoroughly in a strainer. Put the chicken stock and rice into a baking dish (I use my favorite 12 inch/30cm round cast iron pan, but a 9x12/23x30cm or even an 8x10/20x25cm rectangle also works). Put it in the preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes.
1 1/2 cups glutinous rice, 2 cups chicken stock or broth
While the rice cooks, strain off as much marinade from the chicken as you can, and put it into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer until it's reduced by half, about 5 minutes.
When the timer goes for the rice, remove it from the oven (it will be partially but not fully cooked). Place the chicken all over the top, in a single layer. Spoon the reduced marinade back over the chicken and return the dish to the oven for 15 minutes to cook the chicken and finish the rice.
At the end of cooking, turn the oven off and briefly open the door to release excess steam (or, if you have a steam release feature in your oven, use that). Close the door again and let the chicken and rice sit undisturbed for 5 minutes, before serving in warmed bowls with cilantro/coriander, green onions and sesame oil over the top.
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 2 green onions

Notes

Chilli bean sauce or paste. I use Toban Djan, a Chinese fermented bean and chilli sauce widely available at Asian grocery stores. It's a staple in my house and is great in all sorts of stir fries and marinades. The dish is flexible and you could use another type of chilli sauce to taste (I would if I didn't have Toban Djan available), though you'll miss the umami and funk of the fermented beans.
Shaoxing wine. Another Asian grocery staple, this Chinese cooking wine lives in my pantry for all kinds of dishes. If you have dry sherry, that makes a great substitute in lieu of buying a whole bottle of Shaoxing.
Sichuan (or Szechuan) pepper. Critical to this recipe, Sichuan pepper is available at Asian grocers and some supermarkets. If you've never tried it you're in for a treat! Unlike spicy chilli, Sichuan pepper (which are the berries of the prickly ash tree and related to citrus) gives a fragrant, slightly numbing/tingling quality to a dish. I've never come across it pre-ground, which I think is because it loses pungency very quickly after grinding. If you have a spice grinder, drop the quantity to a teaspoon and grind coarsely. If not, do as I do and roughly smash up the full 1 1/2 teaspoons in a mortar and pestle (or, in desperation, crush with the back of your heaviest knife).
Glutinous (sticky) rice. Where I live, this sticky, chewy rice is easily found in the supermarket, but if you can't find it there you certainly will at an Asian grocery store (and often cheaper, too). Usually you soak glutinous rice overnight before steaming without extra liquid, but the method above lets you enjoy its lovely texture just a half hour after you decide to make it. Despite the name, glutinous rice is happily gluten free.
Serving size. This will generously serve 4 (or, as in my case, 3 adult eaters and 2 kid-sized eaters). If you serve it with a good amount of vegetables you could definitely stretch it to 6 portions.
Steamed vegetables to serve. I recommend simple steamed green veg alongside this dish; you can add a tray of veg to the oven for the last few minutes of the chicken and rice cooking (I'd go 6-8 minutes for broccoli or beans, 2-4 minutes for peas or leafy greens).

Nutrition