Chef Virginia Velasco · Fiesta Filipino Restaurant
LIKE MOST family-style Filipino restaurants in Vancouver (or in the Philippines), North Vancouver’s Fiesta is a designed like a cafeteria. Line up at the food counter, choose from the eight to ten items steaming away on hot plates that day and pay at the cash. More often than not, Chef Velasco is both tending the till and cooking up dishes in the back kitchen. She’ll greet you just like a long-lost auntie. The place is often bustling with diners but also with Filipinos shopping at the food market that opens off the restaurant.
In the Philippines, this recipe is usually made with chicken feet, for economic reasons and for their distinct texture. There, they are a popular street food and commonly known as adidas, as in the running shoe! In Vancouver, however, this dish is more often made with chicken thighs or drumsticks instead because the meat is more tender. The fermented salted black beans called for in this recipe are available in cans, but substitute Chinese fermented dried black beans, which are sold in jars or plastic packages, if you can’t find them. Serve this dish with steamed rice.
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 lb chicken thighs, in 1-inch dice (or use whole drumsticks)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp chopped ginger
1 small onion, julienned
2 red chili peppers, chopped
¼ cup fermented salted black beans
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp white sugar
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 lb chicken thighs, in 1-inch dice (or use whole drumsticks)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp chopped ginger
1 small onion, julienned
2 red chili peppers, chopped
¼ cup fermented salted black beans
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp white sugar
1 Tbsp sesame oil
LINE A PLATE with paper towels. In a heavy frying pan, heat canola oil on high. Add chicken and brown on each side for 2 to 3 minutes. Using tongs, transfer chicken to the paper towel–lined plate to drain. Reserve the oil in the pan.
To the sizzling oil, add garlic, ginger, onions, chili peppers and black beans and sauté for 2 minutes. Stir in chicken, then add soy sauce, tomato paste and sugar, making sure to coat chicken evenly. Cook for 2 minutes, add 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook for 10 minutes, or until liquid is reduced to a gravy. Drizzle sesame oil on top, then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.