This is the third of my favourite three dishes I had in Beijing. In no particular order. Click here for the first one and here for the second.
Dapanji, which translates to big plate chicken is a dish that is made up of a whole braised chicken, a lot of large potato chunks and pepper along with prominent Chinese spices e.g. Sichuan pepper corn. All of this comes on a bed of flat noodles and sometimes even rice. It has a wonderful aromatic flavour which is quite unique and distinctive from anything else. Comforting and delicious! Spicy but more tongue numbing spice (from the Sichuan pepper) than actual hot spice. A rollercoaster ride for your tongue and tastebuds. Because of the make up of the dish (whole chicken) it is typically shared and so it’s not something you’ll order when dining out yourself.
It is a dish that originally comes from Xinjiang. Yes, that’s the second dish in my top 3 that is from there. It’s one of the most popular Uyghur dishes that does come from that region of China and it is loved all throughout the country. A true crowd pleaser this one!
Also, I found the perfect recipe that tastes exactly like the taste I got in China. On YouTube search Dapanji chicken recipe and it’s the video by Chinese cooking demystified (click here). Halal Xplorer – not only food and travel, but recipes now too!
