Fermented black beans, while not as ubiquitous in Chinese cooking as soy sauce, are a worthy pantry staple for any Chinese cooking aficionado. These little soybeans, packed and fermented in salt, give a pungent dimension to your stir-fry sauces. You may have encountered them before in Cantonese black bean spare ribs (usually served at dim sum) or Sichuan dishes like mapo tofu or twice-cooked pork. Just a tiny amount can add a big whopping amount of umani to your everyday stir-fry.
Yesterday I stir-fried some chicken with the fermented black beans and a little chili oil, a landlubber’s take on the Cantonese shrimp in black bean sauce I’ve eaten many times over. You can find these little beans at any Chinese grocery store, packed in plastic. Before using, rinse them in water or rice wine to get rid of excess grit. I store my black beans in the fridge in a little plastic container, but I know tons of cooks who keep them in cabinets; with tons of salt and no moisture, bacterial growth is minimal.
Do you cooked with fermented black beans, and if so, what’s your favorite dish to make with them?
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into 1-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons fermented black beans
- 1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon julienned fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon chinese rice wine or dry sherry
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- ¼ teaspoon chili oil
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- Marinate the chicken: In a small bowl, stir together the soy sauce, rice wine, and cornstarch until the cornstarch is dissolved. Add the chicken and gently stir to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- Rinse the black beans to remove any grit. In a small bowl, mash the black beans with the back of a spoon and set aside.
- Prepare the sauce: In another small bowl, combine the rice wine, soy sauce, chili oil, cumin, and paprika. Set aside.
- Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat until a bead of water sizzles and evaporates on contact. Add the peanut oil and swirl to coat the bottom. Add the chicken and stir-fry until it is no longer pink on the outside but not yet cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the onions, garlic, ginger, and fermented black beans and stir-fry for another minute.
- Add the sauce and scrape the bottom of the wok with a spatula to loosen up any juicy brown bits. Stir to coat the chicken. Simmer until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Transfer to a plate and serve.
Black beans are great; often I will just give them a quick rinse and sprinkle them over rice.
I love squid in black bean sauce too, as the texture contrasts (i usually add green pepper) are great.
I love black bean sauce but it’s difficult to get hold of fermented black bean here so I have to opt for jarred black bean sauce.
I love making rice with pork in black bean sauce in clay pot (煲仔飯). My hubby loves it as well. (even nicer with loads of garlic and chilis in it!) I like having the steamed spare ribs with black bean as well when I go yum cha
There are so many great dishes. Your chicken looks lovely.
But if I had to choose I’d probably go for the Steamed Salmon with black beans.
I use black bean garlic sauce in a recipe for Asian ribs that’s
cooked in a crock-pot. Ming Tsai has a wonderful recipe for black bean garlic sauce.
We always keep a jar of Lee Kum Kee Black Bean & Garlic Sauce on hand. My 2 year old daughter LOVES asparagus, steamed, and then a little sauce on top. Actually, if I’m not careful, she’ll steal my jar of sauce and eat it when I’m not looking!
i love chicken with black bean sauce! it’s such a great flavour. think one of my favourite dishes would be beef slices in black bean sauce with bittergourd..
Oooh – I will have to make this – looks delish!
I managed to get fermented black beans in a Chinese shop a few miles from here!
I adore fermented black beans. My favorite thing to make with them is Fuschia Dunlop’s recipe for home-style tofu.
I love how simple your recipe is…will definitely add it to my “make-soon” list.
Mapo tofu is my favorite!
Sammi – Mmm…claypot rice w/ black beans and any meat is such a great wintertime dish…
cookthink – Ah, yes, I like homestyle tofu too. Great for an everyday stir-fry. Though when it’s more than just me eating I tend to go for mapo tofu, partly because it’s spicier and partly of the color.
I normally see this with onions and bell peppers in the Cantonese restaurants around here. I love to eat it with lots of rice.
stunning pictures and recipes… all of them!!
I am going to add u to my links.
Thanks for sharing..
Soma
I concur with Aunt LoLo, Asparagus and black beans are a match made in heaven. For a main dish I use chicken onion and asparagus, for a side dish, just the asparagus.
If I’m lucky enough to get some good fresh crab (in the shell) it also tastes divine with a black bean sauce.
Your recipe looks great but different than my family prefers. I use a variation that I learned from a Vietnamese housekeeper in 1967 while based in Da Nang. It has a bit of a thickened broth spiced with a hot, fresh, green local chili. Here in the US I use jalapenos but the flavor is almost identical to that I learned to love.
I would be happy to share my recipe if you are interested and care to email me.
The asian markets where I live, in the middle of Missouri, are somewhat limited, but I managed to find a Chinese brand of black beans at a Filipino market we have, for what it’s worth.
I would love to get the recipe mentioned. I will be making a black bean sauce recipe that I have had for simply, years, and it will be interesting to see how it turns out and compares to yours.
Thanks.
sz
This dish sounds wonderful. I’d appreciate the recipe please. Thanks. Jeanine
I’m sure the recipe tastes good, but chick chunks appear a bit large for me…and I prefer dark meat for it’s slightly higher fat content/mouth feel
beans mashed slightly more might be a little more apealing to me
…and where’s the sauce? (I’d probably incorporate some broth and a little cornstarch to thicken, too)
Is white rice vinegar different from Chinkiang vinegar (which is dark in appearance)?
Your blog is great, I don’t know what I would do without it.
HungryMe – Chinkiang vinegar is actually a dark, aged vinegar that is slightly sweet. You should be able to find it in the same grocery store aisle as white rice vinegar. I use the Gold Plum brand. Here’s a photo of what the bottle looks like. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tkcs/2337170494/ Hope this helps!
Thanks Diana. Had a feeling they were different, just wasn’t sure how. I actually have that same bottle of Chinkiang vinegar. What I don’t have is the white rice vinegar, but that sounds like a good excuse to visit Chinatown.
Are there any guidelines as to when to use dark and when to use white rice vinegar?