We often say don’t waste food, not only because “粒粒皆辛苦”, but also because a dish can appear on your table after hundreds of years of hard work. For example, the big plate of chicken is not only a plate of chicken, but also a crystallization of human civilization.
How to say? In this dish, although the chicken is a native product of China, there are several types of broiler chickens on the market now, most of which are hybridized and cultivated from various chickens around the world. You can’t distinguish their pedigrees just by eating the chicken; the wheat used for the wide noodles comes from West Asia, the potatoes come from South America, and the peppers come from Central America; the Chinese prickly ash in the seasoning may be from Sichuan, the star anise is mostly from Guangxi, the oil may be from Shandong, the peanuts are from America, the rapeseed is from Europe, and the soybeans are from China.
Finally, Big Plate Chicken is said to be a Xinjiang dish, but it was actually invented by a Sichuan chef. Isn’t it complicated?
Historical Legend
Allusion 1：
Legend has it that during the Qing Dynasty, General Zuo Zongtang achieved a great victory in Xinjiang. To reward his troops, he created a delicious dish using local chickens and chili peppers, which later became the precursor to the famous Big Plate Chicken.
Allusion 2：
It is said that Big Plate Chicken originated as a hearty dish for long-distance truck drivers. In the past, the route from Urumqi to places like Yili, Tacheng, and Altay in Xinjiang had to pass through Shawan. Due to poor road conditions, it would take half a day to drive from Urumqi to Shawan, leaving many drivers famished. As a result, there were several small restaurants catering specifically to these passing drivers on both sides of the road in Shawan County.
One Sichuan chef in particular used stimulative dry chili peppers and green chili peppers to stir-fry with chicken, along with potatoes, wide noodles, and other ingredients. This dish became immensely popular among the drivers for its appetizing flavors. Over time, this dish gradually evolved into what we now know as Big Plate Chicken.
Dish development
In 1992, Zhang, the owner of the Shawan Xinghua Village Big Plate Chicken Restaurant, first registered the brand “Big Plate Chicken“, a local dish, and began his own branding journey. After more than 20 years of development and evolution, in Xinjiang, you can not only eat the classic “potato chicken” of large plate chicken, but also eat the luxury version and upgraded version of large plate chicken, such as “mushroom chicken, pickled chicken, cowpea chicken, Steamed rolls chicken, kelp chicken, fried Nang chicken, frozen tofu large plate chicken, chicken blood cake large plate chicken”. The delicious large plate chicken, together with the Nang and belt noodles with Xinjiang characteristics, is absolutely a delicacy.
Characteristics of dishes
Xinjiang Big Plate Chicken is usually stir-fried and then stewed. When it is ready, the delicious chicken pieces with burnt skin and rotten meat are mixed with bright colors of green and red peppers, and the potato starch in the soup absorbs the grease. Using chopsticks to pick up the wide and thin noodles and stir them in the soup for a few times, they are immediately surrounded by a thick soup, and when they are put in the mouth, they are spicy and delicious, with all kinds of flavors surging to the tip of the tongue.
This dish has a unique texture and novel taste, combining the rough and bold spicy flavor that is popular among people in the northwest with the spicy and numbing flavor that is associated with the crazy taste buds of old Sichuan people.
Authentic Recipe
Ingredients：
| Chicken 500g | Potato 500g |
| Green pepper 50g | Scallion 10g |
| Ginger 20g | Garlic 30g |
| Rock sugar 20g | Salt 10g |
| Sichuan peppercorn 5g | Star anise 15g |
| Fragrant leaves 6g | Dried chilli 30g |
Practice steps：
1、Cut the whole chicken into moderate size and place it in a clean large basin. To remove the fishy smell of the chicken, sprinkle some salt on it and massage it gently to make it fully absorb. Next, rinse the chicken repeatedly with clean water and carefully remove the blood and impurities. Each time you rinse, check and ensure that the chicken has become clean and refreshing. Finally, drain the chicken and keep it at a certain humidity for subsequent cooking.
2、To ensure the perfect texture and flavor of the dried chili peppers, soak them in clean water. This step not only revitalizes the dried chili peppers but also reduces their spiciness to make them more suitable for our taste. When cooking, you can confidently add more of these chili peppers as they not only add a vibrant color to the dish but also release enticing aromas, enhancing the overall appeal of the dish.
3、Prepare fresh scallions, ginger, and garlic, which are essential seasonings. To better leverage their flavor, cut the ginger into thin slices, cut the scallions into long sections, and leave the garlic as it is.
4、Prepare some spices: bay leaves, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, and Sichuan peppercorns. These spices each have their own unique aroma and flavor, which can add rich layers and enticing flavors to dishes. Carefully select and clean these spices to ensure their quality and purity. Allow them to fully release their aroma and flavor during cooking.
5、To enhance the potato’s ability to absorb the flavors of the seasoning, cut the potatoes into evenly sized chunks. Rinse them repeatedly to remove the starch and soak them in water to ensure thorough starch removal. By preparing the potatoes this way, they will have a more tender and fresh texture.
6、At the beginning of cooking, first pour more oil into the pot than usual for stir-frying to ensure that the ingredients can be fully cooked. Then, add a handful of rock sugar and slowly stir-fry over medium-low heat until the sugar completely melts and turns a beautiful amber color. This sugar-stir-frying is a key step in cooking, as it not only adds a unique color to the dish, but also brings a wonderful sweetness and aroma to the dish.
7、After the sugar color is fried, quickly place the chicken pieces in the pot and stir-fry quickly with a spatula to evenly coat the chicken pieces with sugar color. As the temperature rises, the skin of the chicken begins to tighten, emitting a tempting aroma. At this point, add peppercorns, star anise and bay leaves, and continue to stir-fry with a spatula to perfectly integrate these spices with the chicken.
8、Then, put the cleaned and cut green onions, ginger and garlic into the pot and stir-fry evenly with a spatula. The addition of these ingredients adds a richer aroma and taste to the chicken, making the entire dish more delicious. During the stir-frying process, you can feel the combination of the fragrance of green onions, the spicy taste of ginger, and the rich flavor of garlic, forming a unique aroma.
9、Put the potatoes in and stir-fry for a while, then add salt. At this point, add more salt because you will be adding water later. If the salt is too much, add more water. If the salt is too little, the ingredients will not taste good, even if you add more at the end. After adding salt, add dried chili peppers and stir-fry for a few seconds, then add water just enough to cover the ingredients. Bring the water to a boil, turn down the heat, and cover with a lid for 10-15 minutes.
10、During the stewing process, cut two fresh green peppers into neat diamond-shaped pieces. This method ensures that the peppers retain their shape and texture during cooking, while also better absorbing the flavor of the seasonings.
11、When the chicken is almost stewed, we add the sliced green peppers to the pot and stir-fry quickly over high heat. This action is light and quick, designed to ensure the fresh texture and color of the green peppers. With the heat, the fragrance of the green peppers is quickly released, blending with the delicious taste of the chicken to create a visually appealing and flavorful dish.
12、Noodles are an indispensable side dish of large plate chicken. The types of noodles can be selected according to personal taste, either belt noodles or long knife noodles. As the name suggests, the belt noodles are a kind of wide and thin noodles with a smooth texture, which perfectly match the rich soup of the big plate chicken. Long knife noodles are a traditional way of making noodles. The noodles are thin on the outside and soft and waxy on the inside. They are more delicious when paired with the delicious taste of large plate chicken. No matter what kind of noodles, cooking with big plate chicken can make the whole dish more delicious and perfect. When enjoying the delicious taste of the big plate chicken, a bowl of fragrant and smooth noodles is served to make people indulge in this wonderful journey of taste buds.
In a busy modern society, although the preparation of Big Plate Chicken requires time and patience, it has also become an indispensable choice for family and friends gatherings. It reminds people to cherish family and friendship, and to experience the beauty of life in food. Whether prepared at home or tasted in restaurants,Big Plate Chicken can bring people a satisfying taste experience and a deep understanding of Chinese food culture.