Most Chinese restaurant renditions of stir-fried dishes with black bean sauce are one note affairs. Then tend toward being salty and not much else. They are rarely well-balanced preparations because the fermented black beans standout too prominently. When you make such dishes at home, you are in command of the seasonings and can add nuance. You can tweak the flavors to coax out the tangy, winy qualities of the black beans.
Someone asked recently if buying black bean sauce in the jar is okay. My response was: it is NOT okay.
Prepared “black bean sauce” is like jarred or canned spaghetti sauce. All you need to make a great Chinese-style black bean sauce are fermented black beans (which are actually salted black soybeans). Similarly, all you need for a terrific spaghetti sauce is a stash of good tomatoes! Why let someone else mix up the sauce for you?
Where do you buy fermented black beans? Head to a Chinese market. The beans are sold in little plastic bags or in cylindrical paper cartons with some preserved ginger thrown in. I prefer the paper carton, though you have to buy a large amount. Once home, put the black beans in a jar and refrigerate.
Fermented black beans are also sold online, should you not live near a Chinese market. As long as you have the black beans, this dish comes together quickly.
Should you rinse fermented black beans before using them? It’s up to you. For delicate applications as in this stir-fry recipe, rinse them to remove some of the saltiness. For punchy preparations, such as those in the Sichuan repertoire, leave the salted fermented black beans in their lusty, earthy primal state.
Garlic, ginger, and chile go hand in hand with fermented black bean in a stir-fry such as this one. If you're new to stir-frying with fermented black beans, this is a great
recipe to work off of. You'll understand how the ingredients come
together.
Many thanks to Grace Young’s Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge cookbook, which I reviewed last week, for providing guidance on this terrific combination of flavors and texture.
Have questions or tips on using fermented black beans (there are lots of them in a package)? Add them down below!
RECIPE
Stir-Fried Chicken with Black Bean Sauce
You can go low-fat by using chicken breast but why not use chicken thigh and enjoy a smaller portion? I've halved this recipe and it was just fine!
Serves 2 or 3 as a main course with rice or 4 as part of a multicourse meal
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thigh, cut into ¾-inch chunks
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons light (regular) soy sauce
½ teaspoon plus ¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon fermented black beans, rinsed briefly and drained
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1 teaspoon dark (thick) soy sauce
⅓ cup low-sodium chicken broth or water
1 small red onion, cut into thin wedges (¾ cup)
¼ to ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 carrot, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced on the diagonal (1 cup0
1 scallion, finely shredded
1. In a medium bowl, combine the chicken, cornstarch, 1 teaspoon of the rice wine, light soy sauce and ½ teaspoon of the salt. Stir in 1 teaspoon of the oil. Stir to combine.
2. In a small bowl, mash the fermented black beans with the garlic, ginger, and dark soy sauce. In another small bowl, combine the broth and remaining 1 tablespoon of rice wine. Set aside.
3. Heat a 14-inch flat-bottomed wok or 12-inch skillet over high heat until a bead of water vaporizes within 1 to 2 seconds of contact. Swirl in the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, add the red onion and red pepper flakes, then use a spatula to stir-fry for 30 seconds or until the onions begin to wilt.
Push the onions to the sides of the wok, carefully add the chicken, and spread it evenly in one layer in the wok. Cook undisturbed for 1 minute, letting the chicken begin to sear. Stir-fry for 1 minute or until the chicken is lightly browned but not cooked through.
Add the carrots and black bean mixture, and stir-fry 30 seconds or until fragrant. Swirl the broth mixture into the wok, sprinkle on the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt, and stir-fry 1 to 2 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Stir in the shredded scallion. Transfer to a plate and serve immediately.
Recipe adapted from: Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge (Simon &
Schuster, 2010) by Grace Young
Related links:
- Cookbook review: Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge
- Try another recipe from Grace Young's book: Stir-Fried Clams with Spicy Bean Sauce
Belinda @zomppa says
Wow! I never actually knew that or compared the two but it TOTALLY makes sense.
Sandy says
My parents used to make their own black bean sauce in industrial quantities. It seemed to keep in the fridge for awhile, but they use it frequently. I confess to using the jarred stuff because I don't cook with it very often and I have a smaller family. However, I'm going to follow your suggestion and buy the beans.
Andrea Nguyen says
@Sandy: Buy the beans -- you'll have plenty -- try this recipe out, THEN query your parents about how they make their homemade black bean sauce. That sounds like a family heirloom to me!
lisa ng says
Enjoy your blog very much. Very clear and detailed. I started making sauce from scratch but when there are those tired evenings, i thank the jar and there is a difference. I like to add brown sugar and splash of rice wine. Thank you!
CookNg Sisters
Dennis M Reed (check the "Cooking - Food - Recipes - Cookbook Collections" link on my site. says
this recipes sounds great but add a sliced green bell pepper and replace the chicken with large scallops sliced about 1/2" thick and you have one of my all time favorite dishes.
I would also add 1 1" cube of dofu ru, or furu, or stinky tofu...IMHO it makes for a "bigger" taste without being tasted itself.
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You can tweak the flavors to coax out the tangy, winy qualities of the black beans.
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Gareth Davies says
I made this last night and it's the first time I've cooked with black beans, they were harder than I expected and the mashing proved quite challenging even after rinsing them. Would blitzing them in the chopper with fresh garlic and ginger be a reasonable way of handling that problem next time? The dish was delicious apart from the hard lumps of bean so I'm keen to try it again.
Andrea Nguyen says
Gareth, the fermented black beans should be rather soft -- in fact, mashable with a spoon and a tiny bit of force. Were your black beans dried and hard to begin with? Fermented black beans are a little wrinkly, earthy smelling and salty.
Gareth Davies says
Hmmm, I suspect I just have plain dried black beans then as they're rock hard. I didn't realise there'd be different types of black bean on offer, I'll nip back to the Chinese supermarket this evening and be more careful this time now I know more about what I'm after, thank you.
nive says
Andrea,
I couldn't agree more with you.You are spot on using dry fermented black beans and jarred spaghetti sauce analogy.
bill marriott says
I made this dish a couple of nights ago. The flavor was great (had to use jarred black bean sauce instead of the black beans as my local market didn't carry the fermented beans - going out looking for them again tonight), but the addition of 1/3 cup of broth at the end just made the dish really soupy. I left the wok on the high heat for an additional couple of minutes, but the broth didn't reduce much.
It seems like I did something wrong as I don't think the stir fry is meant to be soupy. Thoughts?
Emily says
Might this be all right with tofu instead of meat?
cheapdanny says
never knew you can get fermented black beans from a market! always been using canned beans. Would love to make it from scratch one day.
- allison
Goody2shz says
Just made this. Changed it up a bit because I wanted to use it as stuffing in rice paper. So I ground up some turkey breast tenders and cut everything else smaller. I used leek instead of onion because I have so much leek coming out of my garden right now (I'm in Southern California). It was a lot of prep work, but once that was out of the way, the dish cooked up so fast I nearly got whiplash! I rolled it up in rice paper and used your recipe for nuoc cham as a dipping sauce and it was wonderful!!!! Thanks.
Goody2shz says
Bill Marriott, did you forget to mix the cornstarch into the chicken? Cornstarch is what thickens it up.
cindy says
I just made this. This is the best recipe for this dish ever. It is so delicious and better than the restaurant versions. I followed the proportions exactly (which I only do for Andrea's recipes, and a few other blogs) except that I didn't have scallions so I left those out and I had a green pepper hanging around so I put that in. It would be even better with scallions. I confess I also added a dab of oyster sauce because, well, everything is better with oyster sauce! LOL
George says
Made this tonight and it won’t be the only time. Thank you for a simple, but oh so tasty recipe.
Andrea Nguyen says
You're very welcome, George.