Chicken and Basil Wontons

This wonton filling is proudly—if improbably—fashioned after san bei ji or Three Cup Chicken. This is one of the ultimate dishes from Taiwan, and one I love enough to try to twist into different forms any day. It starts with a deeply satisfying blend of soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine (the eponymous “three cups”), and it’s splashed with copious aromatics—garlic, ginger and basil. I wanted to get its zingy, herbal flavors inside a wonton for a refreshing filling based on … Read More

San Bei Ji Wings (Three Cup Chicken Wings)

For the cookbook release of The Food of Taiwan, I threw a number of dinners and edible events. This was served at one of them, a pub menu-themed makeover of some classic Taiwanese dishes. Other dishes included clams braised with Taiwan Beer instead of rice wine with garlic, chilies and basil, and the famous Taiwanese “hamburger” or gua bao in a grilled slider bun instead of steamed bun. When Superbowl Sunday rolled around the other week, I thought of making a … Read More

Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken

If I had my way with space, I’d have three different types of basil growing in my front yard (okay, my apartment building’s front patch of grass). This would have to include the ubiquitous Italian variety, with its shiny, fat teardrop-shaped leaves. As well as the purple basil which I’ve been eyeing and smelling at Farmer’s Markets but have no idea what it tastes like (it smells like basil). And most direly, a Thai basil plant: a matte, darker green-leaved … Read More