Maybe I shouldn’t have completely delegated to the Chinese speakers!
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Are you guys talking about Chongqing Chicken AKA chongqing la zi ji / 重庆辣子鸡 ?
If so I think it always has some Starch in the Marinate it is then fried and drained while the Chilies and other Aromatics are “exploded” and then Chicken is added back and it is briefly stir-fried to absorb the Aroma and spiced Oil. Which results in a thin very crisp Coating with the Skin well rendered.
I have seen it heavily battered as well, which I believe is not how it is typically done in Chongqing.
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No, not chongqing chicken.
The key to the dish I am talking about I have only seen once elsewhere, served at a Tibetan meal in the southern Gansu Province. They are peppers that are stuffed with a paste made from a grain (I think), that are then dried. You eat each piece whole. Super dense and crunchy. You should be able to see them in the photo above. As written on the wall: the English translation would be something like, “mouth mouth, good smelling.”
The ingredient is not something the restaurant makes. It is a manufactured product. I believe I once saw it available in large bags on the internet.
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If you ever find out the name please let me know. I have never heard of this product, very interested to learn more.
I don’t know how I’ve missed having the chicken with stuffed peppers, but I will ask for it. My ESL students did not study the wall menu item-for-item, but only read it quickly. I didn’t feel like I could press them to do my homework for me.
I found a really old article (2010) from a website I haven’t heard of (TastingTable.com) – so I can’t vouch for it at all. But it says that Hong Kong Palace does make the stuffed peppers in-house. Here’s how the article says they were prepared back then:
“But stuffed peppers are the real star here. Co-owner Melanie Qing imports Cantonese peppers–they aren’t sold on this continent–from her hometown in China. The kitchen stuffs the finger-size red cones with sesame seeds and peanuts, then fries them until each one becomes a crispy, slightly spicy take on a sesame stick.”
Read More: https://www.tastingtable.com/682794/spicy-szechuan-food-at-hong-kong-palace-in-falls-church/
I wonder if Melanie Qing is still involved with Hong Kong Palace. Some quick googling did not turn up any mention of her in connection with food in this area since this mention in 2010.
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Melanie is still there. I saw her the last couple of times, though before that I hadn’t seen her in years.
The stuffed peppers are something like this:
https://tinyurl.com/57jd3k8t
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Well, rather than speculate, Toni and I went to HKP tonight and got the chicken with stuffed peppers, along with the cumin lamb and the dry fried string beans.
I can now report that Steve is right:
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The chicken with stuffed peppers is not on the printed menu (or at least not on the English portion of the menu), but it is on the list of specials on the wall listed only in Mandarin. Currently, it is on the top row, the third from the right, on the dark red piece of paper.
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At this point, they do not stuff and fry the peppers themselves. Instead, they order them from China and add them to the dish.
This was an excellent meal. We both enjoyed the chicken with stuffed peppers and thought it was real good, but not as good as the dry fried string beans and the cumin lamb, which were both outstanding.
I’m attaching a closeup of the stuffed peppers and some other photos.
We’d order the chicken and stuffed peppers again, but only if we were with a large group. The huge pile of breaded and deep fried chicken got to be a little “one note” after a while.
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Good to know I am not completely crazy (only partial) and that they change the specials on the wall. My experience is that the wall specials are, in general, not on the menu.
And that the stuffed peppers are a purchased product. I think that has been the case all along. The ones I had in China were exactly 100% the same ones (size, shape, flavor), and that would be difficult to imagine as a homemade product. That, the string beans, and the cumin lamb makes for a very fine meal. The other items I like from the menu are the cucumber salad, the cold chengdu noodles, and the shredded pork with dried bean curd. Also they have the pickled long beans with ground pork, the same dish which you can find at A&J.
Next time I will ask more about the other specials. I am glad you took a current photo, that way maybe I can look up some of those dishes.
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Looking up more of the specials would be a great public service.
Excellent choices Doug!
I had a great meal there last weekend on the way to Great Wall Supermarket. We ordered spicy wontons, tea smoked duck, cumin lamb, and the greenbeans!
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SIx of us enjoyed a very good meal here. A good belence fo flavors and textures. We ordered:
Chicken with crunchy peppers special
Jao ma ji special
shrimp with salty egg yolk special
cumin lamb
tiger skin peppers
cucumber salad
chengdu cold noddles.
The jao ma ji (cold sliced chicken) was the most numbing dish we had. Other dishes had a decent amount of heat but not the hottest I’ve been served here. It is overall such a good kitchen that the dishes are successful either way. Some renditions have changed over time, but it remains a really positive experience.
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HKP used to be one of my favorite spots for szechuan food in NOVA area. The Mapo Tofu, cucumber salad, the tea smoked duck, dumplings, I had several dishes I liked a lot there. Eat half and take the rest home for the next day.
Sadly, the meal i remember the best is when I ordered the Cumin Lamb from a male waiter there. I had enjoyed it a few times before but always when I ordered with a waitress. When I ordered it the male waiter looked at me deadpan and asked if I wanted it “not spicy”. I should have known better but I said something to the effect of “I like it spicy”. And when it arrived instead of mostly lamb and those green peppers I never liked, it was mostly szechuan peppers. It LIT ME UP LIKE A CHRISTMAS TREE.
And I was too stupid to complain. I ate nearly the whole plate even though I had sweat running down the back of my neck like a waterfall. It is funny now but at the time I just did not want to admit that it was too hot.
I still hate places, and waiters, that roll the Scovilles to try to be real. What really makes me mad though is that when it is prepared right the Cumin Lamb is an excellent dish there.
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I have had better versions of the cumin lamb here than what we got yesterday. Still, the entire meal was very enjoyable.
I do like it when a kitchen does not hold back on my account. I would rather try to adjust my tastes than the other way around because I have been greatly rewarded when I do so.
The first time I followed a rec on Chowhound for a Sichuan meal, I ordered the infamous H20 at Joe’s Noodle House in Rockville. Just a little ways into the bowl of shwei ju yu, I was moved to tears (physically) but it was so delicious I could not stop. Then the tears became emotional as well.
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I hear you, but I do not think that is the way he would have ordered it for himself. Or maybe it is, I do not know. I just know that it was a completely different dish than the one I had enjoyed there before. I like spicy foods, I have never had food that overpoweringly spicy though. I have had mouth numbing Szechuan dishes that were delicious, Isan Som tam that was full of mouse shit chilis and flavor, I have had Pork Vindaloo that was forehead sweat hot, but it was delicious. But the lamb curry was just heat and had little flavor, it felt more like a huge middle finger to the white bread American rather than a dish that was balancing heat and flavor. The part that irritated me the most is that I liked the dish the way I had had it there previously.
YMMV.
Thanks for organizing, Steve. Not exactly up to my memories of HKP but still a good lunch.
I need to pick up that other diced chicken with crunchy peppers. Fortunately I can drive home from work right through Seven Corners.
As for our meal I enjoyed most of the dishes. The shrimp with salted egg looked nice but it’s not to my taste. Cumin lamb has been better but to me still delicious. Same for the tiger skin peppers and chengdu noodles and the other crunchy chicken dish — all very good. The cold chicken was extremely numbing to me! An interesting dish.
I agree. If you look at the first picture in this thread, you’ll see what the Jao Ma Ji looked like the first time I had it. Even though it was much better back then, it was still a good order.
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Wow! Looked nothing like that. The shrimp was the most “meh” to me, and I’ve had better cumin lamb, but I agree, it was a good meal. Loved the sliced chicken dish the most.
Thanks again for organizing.
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My assessment too – not the best meal I’ve had at Hong Kong Palace, but solidly good.
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I am guessing that when you run three or four places and are having to cycle though chefs 7 days a week, consistency is going to suffer. This must have been the fifth time I’ve had the jao ma ji, but this was the first time it was boneless, skinless, made with soy sauce, and didn’t have the fresh chili. Still, it was a positive dish.
