Da Pan Ji – Xinjiang style braised chicken with noodles.

big plate chicken (dapanji) steps | chinasichuanfood.com

I met Da Pan Ji (braised chicken in large flat plate) in a restaurant near my university in Xi’an. It is a very home style braised chicken mainly with potatoes. You can order a large plate of hand pulled wide noodles to serve along with it. It is originated from Xinjiang but lots of restaurants have added it to their daily cooking menu. In restaurants, this dish usually is served with a large flat plate.  You can directly purchase a bag of wide noodles or make hand pulled noodles by yourself according to Biang Biang Noodles.

big plate chicken (dapanji) steps | chinasichuanfood.com

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken, around 1.5 kg
  • 3 tablespoons oil
  • 3 star anises
  • 1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn
  • 4 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 1 thumb ginger, sliced
  • 2 green onion, white part only, cut into 1 inch sections
  • 6-10 dried red pepper
  • water as needed
  • 1 tablespoon Doubanjiang
  • 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
  • 2 middle size potatoes, peeled and cut into 3-4cm chunks
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 green pepper
  • 1/2 red onion, cut into small pieces

Instructions

  1. Cut chicken into small chunks (you can use 4 chicken thighs as a substitute to a whole chicken).  Place in a large pot, add 1 green onion and 2 slices of ginger and then bring to a boiling. Cook for 1 minute, pick the chicken out and clean with warm water. Set aside and drain.big plate chicken (dapanji) steps | chinasichuanfood.com
  2. Heat up 3 tablespoons of oil in wok, add garlic, ginger, white part of green onion, dried chili pepper, star anise and Sichuan peppercorn, fry over slow fire until aroma. Add doubanjiang and continue frying for 1 minute until the oil turns red.big plate chicken (dapanji) steps | chinasichuanfood.combig plate chicken (dapanji) steps | chinasichuanfood.com
  3. Place chicken chunks in, turn up the fire and fry until slightly browned. Add Shaoxing wine and light soy sauce.big plate chicken (dapanji) steps | chinasichuanfood.com
  4. Pour in enough water until 1cm higher than than chicken. Bring to a boil, and cover with a lid. Simmer over slow fire. Add potato chunks after 10 minutes and then continue cooking for another 15 minutes.big plate chicken (dapanji) steps | chinasichuanfood.com
  5. Turn up the fire and start to evaporate extra water. When the liquid lever is around reduced to 1/3, add red pepper, green pepper and red onion. Give everything a big stir fry to mix well. big plate chicken (dapanji) steps | chinasichuanfood.com
    Meanwhile, cook wide noodles in another pot according to the instruction and lay the noodles in the bottle of your serving plate.
  6. Transfer the braised chicken to top the noodles and serve directly.big plate chicken (dapanji) steps | chinasichuanfood.com

Da Pan Ji-Big Plate Chicken with Noodles

Xinjiang style big plate chicken
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: chicken, noodles
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Servings: 4
Calories: 985kcal
Author: Elaine

Ingredients

  • 1 chicken , around 1.5 kg
  • 3 tbsp. oil
  • 3 star anises
  • 1/2 tsp. Sichuan peppercorn
  • 4 cloves garlic , sliced
  • 1 thumb ginger , sliced
  • 2 green onion , white part only, cut into 1 inch sections
  • 6-10 dried red pepper
  • water as needed
  • 1 tbsp. Doubanjiang
  • 1 tbsp. Shaoxing wine
  • 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
  • 2 middle size potatoes , peeled and cut into 3-4cm chunks
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 green pepper
  • 1/2 red onion , cut into small pieces

Instructions

  • Cut chicken into small chunks (you can use 4 chicken thighs as a substitute to a whole chicken). Place in a large pot, add 1 green onion and 2 slices of ginger and then bring to a boiling. Cook for 1 minute, pick the chicken out and clean with warm water. Set aside and drain.
  • Heat up 3 tablespoons of oil in wok, add garlic, ginger, white part of green onion, dried chili pepper, star anise and Sichuan peppercorn, fry over slow fire until aroma. Add doubanjiang and continue frying for 1 minute until the oil turns red.
  • Place chicken chunks in, turn up the fire and fry until slightly browned. Add Shaoxing wine and light soy sauce. Mix well.
  • Pour in enough water until 1cm higher than than chicken. Bring to a boiling, and cover with a lid. Simmer over slow fire. Add potato chunks after 10 minutes and then continue cooking for another 15 minutes.
  • Turn up the fire and start to evaporate extra water. When the liquid lever is around reduced to 1/3, add red pepper, green pepper and red onion. Give everything a big stir fry to mix well.
  • Meanwhile, cook wide noodles in another pot according to the instruction and lay the noodles in the bottle of your serving plate.
  • Transfer the braised chicken to top the noodles and serve directly.

Nutrition

Calories: 985kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 73g | Fat: 68g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 281mg | Sodium: 558mg | Potassium: 1079mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 2205IU | Vitamin C: 25mg | Calcium: 101mg | Iron: 7mg

big plate chicken (dapanji) steps | chinasichuanfood.com

big plate chicken (dapanji) steps | chinasichuanfood.com

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18 Comments

  1. Elaine – Everytime I read one of your post, I’m reminded of the great meals I had during my visits to China. We’ll be trying this one soon. Thanks for the great post.

  2. I’ve tried this and it’s great, but without the thick noodles as I don’t know where to get them around where I live. Any ideas Elaine of where I might get thick noodles like this in a Chinese town? They only have thin noodles in the market.

  3. 5 stars
    Hi Elaine,

    I made this tonight and It tasted really great. I didn’t use a whole chicken but some chicken thighs, which worked out nonetheless.

    I do have a general question about the potatoes -so it doesn’t apply only to this recipe. Around here (where potatoes play a role comparable to rice in China) you’d get three kind of potatoes. Starchy or floury ones, which will get soft very quickly when cooked, but also thicken any sauce they are cooked in. Then there are the “waxy” ones which are commonly used for frying as they keep firm even when heated over a longer period of time. And then there are the “all purpose” ones, which are somewhere in between.

    I’m curious, do you have these three kinds in China as well? And if so, which kind would you use in this recipe?

  4. Hello Elaine,

    I saw Ms Yeah do a variant of this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEoRT8RX6oo). Now obviously she’s more interested in goofing off than doing a cooking channel 🙂 But as I believe she’s from Szechuan province, too I was wondering If you know anything about the little bread/noodle like things she put on the side of the pot while cooking the rooster.

    1. Hi Andreas,
      The dish she making is a very famous local dish named braised cock (烧鸡公). The bread is corn flour bread (玉米面粑粑).

      1. Oh! Thank you for your answer Elaine.

        If you ever run out of ideas on which recipe to put up next on your site, this would definitely be one I’d be interested in. The bread, the chicken or both.

        But then again I have my doubts that there ever will be a day when your ideas for new recipes are spent 🙂

        1. Andreas,
          I will arrange it on my list. It is a very popular restaurant dish loved by several people around me. It will come very soon. Kept returned.

  5. Hi Elaine,

    I love this dish, it’s so easy to make and really fit to feed a lot of hungry mouths 🙂 Now I hope you don’t mind, but my question is less about cooking but about serving. Now I myself don’t have any children but sometimes I invite friends which do. When chopping up the chicken there tend to be a lot of little bones and sometimes splinters. So I’m somewhat reluctant to serve this to children under the age of about six, fearing they might choke on them. Do you maybe have some advise? I’d also really appreciate If you could label recipes which are in your experience popular (and fit) for young children.

    1. Since doubanjiang is quite salty, salt might be needed or not. You can taste the final flavor and see any salt should be added in addition. Yes, you can add cumin powder for sure.