Eshan Spiced Chicken

Eshan Spiced Chicken

　　Eshan Spiced Chicken is a specialty of Eshan County in Yuxi City, Yunnan Province. Known as a famous dish of the Yi ethnic group, it boasts a unique flavor that is spicy, numbing, tender, and delicious — with Spiced Chicken from Xiaojie being particularly renowned.

　　The origins of spiced chicken are in Eshan, Yunnan. Widely popular among locals, Eshan Spiced Chicken is considered a signature Yi dish. Thanks to its unique taste — spicy, numbing, and fragrant — thanks to ingredients like locally produced large toon seed powder and peanuts, almost all major restaurants in Eshan County feature this dish as a signature offering.

　　The full process of making spiced chicken. First, a young chicken is rubbed all over with salt, left to sit for half an hour, then taken out and hung in a cool place to dry the skin. The chicken is then placed in a clay pot and simmered in water with scallions, ginger slices, and other seasonings over low heat for about two hours. Once cooked, the larger bones are removed, and the meat is chopped into pieces. These pieces are then pounded in a stone mortar along with scallions, toon seeds, shredded ginger, minced garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, chili powder, pepper, salt, and other ingredients. Gradually, the flavors of numbness, spice, and fragrance infuse the naturally sweet chicken. When eaten, the dish offers a spicy and refreshing taste, as if experiencing the life of the Yi people — a blend of sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty all in one.