{"id":33029,"title":"Taiwanese Three-Cup Chicken – San Bei Ji","modified":"2025-06-11T10:37:38+02:00","plain":"An irresistibly delicious Taiwanese chicken dish with an unbeatable time\/flavor\/difficulty ratio\n\n\n\nWhat is Three-Cup Chicken?\n\n\n\n\"San Bei Ji\" in Mandarin literally means \"three-cup chicken\" and is a must-try dish in - you guessed it - Taiwan.\n\n\n\nThe name refers to the sauce's three key ingredients: light soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and sesame oil, which together embody the balance prized in traditional Taiwanese cuisine. I love Taiwanese dishes for their simplicity, warmth, and conviviality, which makes them easy to recreate at home.\n\n\n\nThe Taiwanese popcorn chicken is also one of my favorite dishes from the region\n\n\n\nTaiwanese cuisine builds on the foundations of Chinese gastronomy, enriching them with local influences, unique cooking methods, and island-specific adaptations.\n\n\n\nMany of these dishes remind me of the cooking of China's Fujian province. Many immigrants from Fujian settled in Taiwan - and in Singapore - forging strong culinary links between these regions.\n\n\n\nTips for Successfully Making Three-Cup Chicken \n\n\n\nPatience is the key to caramelization: let the sauce reduce until it caramelizes and the broth is almost completely evaporated to enjoy the full depth of flavor.\n\n\n\nMain ingredients of the recipe\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nI have already mentioned the recipe's three pillars; Shaoxing wine can be replaced with dry sherry or sake. \n\n\n\nWhen it comes to stock, homemade is best, though it is not always on hand. I usually make some in advance and freeze it. In this recipe you debone the chicken thighs and use the bones to prepare the stock right in the same pot!\n\n\n\nWhen it comes to cinnamon, it's better to use Chinese cinnamon.\n\n\n\nBecause the dish is braised quickly, using breast meat would likely result in a texture that is far too dry, so stick to thighs.\n\n\n\n\n\n\tTaiwanese Three Cup Chicken - San Bei Ji\n\t\t\n\t\tA delicious San Bei Ji recipe, Taiwanese three cup chicken\t\n\t\n\t\tWok\t\n\t\n\t\t4 chicken thighs (boneless and sliced)15 g ginger (thinly sliced)40 g garlic (cloves lightly crushed and peeled)1 handful basil leaves (Thai, if possible)1 chili (optional)3 tablespoon sesame oil400 ml chicken stock (unsalted)For the sauce4 tablespoons light soy sauce5 tablespoons Shaoxing wine4 tablespoons sugar\t\n\t\n\t\tHeat the sesame oil over medium-high heat, then add the ginger slices, the chili (if using) and the garlic, and stir-fry until the edges of the ginger turn brown.Add the chicken. Let it cook until it's golden on the outside.Add the sauce ingredients. Cook until the sauce thickens and the sugar caramelises.Pour in the chicken stock and simmer over medium-high heat until the stock has evaporated. Add the basil, stir-fry for another one or two minutes and serve\t\n\t\n\t\tFor the final amount of sauce in the dish, it's really up to you: either go for an ultra-reduced, caramelised sauce, or reduce it a little less \nIf the sauce doesn't reduce quickly enough, switch to high heat\n\t\n\t\n\t\tMain courseTaiwanese","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}