Chicken drumsticks in Red Chillies Oil (红油鸡腿)


This chicken drumsticks dish is originally called chicken pieces in red chillies oil, which is essentially a Sichuan dish prepared by steaming a whole chicken, chopping it into pieces, and then serve with chillies oil drizzling on the chicken pieces. But I used drumsticks instead, simply because I can't finish a whole chicken by myself, and more importantly, if I were to chop up the chicken, there won't be any picture to post at all. :-P

I have to admit that I can't chop a whole chicken properly. My previous attempts ended up with the whole plate of chicken pieces in varying sizes and the flesh around the cut areas being chopped into mush. In some instances when I have to cook a whole chicken dish and blog about it, what I did was that I snapped a few pictures of dish right after cooking, then served with a kitchen scissor by the side, cutting up the pieces and ate along the way. I even did that when I have guests over for a meal!

Anyway, when I was preparing the dish, I did not cut down the amount of ingredients required for chillies oil, even though I have less chicken pieces. I keep the extra chillies oil in a bottle and I reckon that it will come in handy when I need a teaspoon or two to spice up the flavor of my future dishes. So if you intend to cook the chicken with a whole chicken, bear in mind that the amount of chillies oil mixture remains the same.

Chicken drumsticks in Red Chillies Oil Recipe (红油鸡腿)

Ingredients:
3 pcs chicken drumsticks
1 tbs chopped spring onions
1 tbs sesame seeds (fried)
10 dried chillies (chopped coarsely)
1/2 bowl of cooking oil

Seasoning:
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 tbs light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Method:
1) Steam the drumsticks until cooked through.
2) Heat up cooking oil, add in chopped dried chillies and saute at low heat until fragrant. Add in sesame seeds and seasoning, mix well.
3) Arrange the drumsticks on a serving plate, spoon in chilli oil mixture and sprinkle with chopped spring onions, serve.

Comments

daphne said…
yum. I wouldn't hv thought of using chili oil as a garnish on steam chicken. Usually I just sprinkle some chili flakes on them.
Stardust said…
Wow, another killer dish here. Drool...

I thought it's not too bad even if you can't hack a chicken up nicely. It's very ladylike, you know? ;P

Great picture again!
Rasa Malaysia said…
I love everything that is Sichuan...the secret of the red oil actually lies in a bottled Sichuan pepper corn oil...it's addictive and numbing...
Anonymous said…
So we can make some chilli oil and store them till we need to use them?
Piggy said…
Hi Daphne,

The chilli oil used here is to add on to the flavour, but of course, it makes the picture looks nicer too. :-)

Hi Julia,

Hmm.. ok, so I shall continue to show pictures of whole chicken then.. haha!

Hi Bee,

Yup, Sichuan dishes do taste good, don't they? ;-)

Hi Didally,

Yes, chilli oil can be made ahead and stored before use. But I'm not sure if it'll turn rancid when keep for too long though.