PF Changs Dali Chicken (Not spicy chicken)

[shift6]

Hey everyone ive been trying literally for a year now to figure out the Dali Chicken dish from PF Changs. Its the sauce that i cannot figure out. The description on the menu just says chili based sauce. I do know Changs Cantonese and Peking style stir fry sauce recipes to start out with but either Changs uses a house brand chili paste/sauce or they add something to the chile paste/sauce or to one of their stir fry sauces that i cannot figure out. I do know that it is not peanut sauce as i have asked the waiter before if there was peanut in the dish and they told me no. Im stumped and have searched recipe forum after recipe forum but no luck so im posting my own question. Thanks in advance to anyones help!

Brady

[shift6]

Re: PF Changs Dali Chicken (Not spicy chicken)

Since it appears that no one knows this recipe maybe someone happens to know the brand of chili sauce/paste used in this dish or others. I have a bottle of Sirracha and Sambal Oelek and neither of those produce the flavor im looking for. Im leaning in the direction of the chili sauce/paste being the missing link to this recipe as im pretty certain of the ingredients used for the base stir fry sauce for this dish. Thanks for anyones help

[luvs2eat]

Re: PF Changs Dali Chicken (Not spicy chicken)

Sorry I can't help, but maybe if you called them and asked what brand they use, they might tell you??

As one who has celiac disease, I've had to ask really detailed questions about ingredients in restaurants and you'd be amazed how much information they'll share. One restaurant actually brought me out an ingredient list from a box of their corn tortillas so I could read them myself!

[shift6]

Re: PF Changs Dali Chicken (Not spicy chicken)

Thanks for the reply, I have asked before what sauce they use for that dish and they always just tell me its a chili sauce that doesnt contain any peanuts and is gluten free, this dish actually is on their gluten free menu. So al least the particular people i have talked to were pretty good at address the reasons for my without giving up info on their product LOL.

[gossipgirl]

Re: PF Changs Dali Chicken (Not spicy chicken)

I think I nailed it on the first try!

I started with 3 yukon gold potatoes cut up in thin slices then cut in half (so they looked like half moons.)

I sauted them in a pan with some sesame oil and vegetable oil (maybe 3/4 cup total, mostly vegetable oil.) I cooked them until they were somewhat browned and cooked them in two batches. Drain them on paper towels and salt to taste.

Cut up 3 chicken breasts into cubes and season with salt, garlic powder, and onion powder to taste.

Drain some of the oil out of the pan so it is heavily coated with oil but not really deep in the pan.

Saute the chicken quickly on high heat until just cooked. Lower heat to medium and add a tablespoon or so of rice flour and 1/2 cup or so of chicken stock and whisk the watery mixture a couple minutes until it starts to thicken. I added about 6 tablespoons of chili paste (I like it hot and I used Sriracha brand)

Throwthe potatoes back in the pan and toss the mixture unrtil nicely coated.

I serve with brown rice. Enjoy!

[lampladies]

Re: PF Changs Dali Chicken (Not spicy chicken)

YEAH!!! For Gossip Girl! I was going to offer to go there my next day off and check it out. Hey Shift~ let us know about Gossip's recipe and like I said, I can always go and check it out. Laura........PS............hey Gossip, how many peeps does your recipe serve? 4 maybe? L.

[shift6]

Re: PF Changs Dali Chicken (Not spicy chicken)

Thanks for the replies from everyone. I too have tinkered with an almost identical recipe as you just mentioned gossip, however the Dali chicken has a very unique flavor in the sauce that i still can not figure out. I too have siracha along with 4 other chili sauces and still cannot figure it out. I did however find out that the sauce is made specifically for the Dali chicken dish and is not used on any other dish at Changs. They actually call it a spicy red mixture when asking the waiters their. What this "mixture" consists of is beyond me and after a year of various chili sauce combos i think im going to hang up the towel on this one unless someone on this forum can figure it out.

[gossipgirl]

Re: PF Changs Dali Chicken (Not spicy chicken)

[QUOTE=lampladies;374899]YEAH!!! For Gossip Girl! I was going to offer to go there my next day off and check it out. Hey Shift~ let us know about Gossip's recipe and like I said, I can always go and check it out. Laura........PS............hey Gossip, how many peeps does your recipe serve? 4 maybe? L.[/QUOTE]

It served about 4 barely but no extra for leftovers, so next time I will double the recipe. I hope someone tries it and says what you think. My hubby thought it tasted pretty close to the original.

[shift6]

Re: PF Changs Dali Chicken (Not spicy chicken)

Thanks for the reply. Im think i stumbled upon the brand of chili sauce that PF Changs modeled their own after. Its Lan Chi brand, typically only available online or in Asain Market stores, not your average grocery store. I have not recieved it yet as i orderd it on-line.

[davidwillson]

Re: PF Changs Dali Chicken (Not spicy chicken)

[QUOTE=Dusty111;383661]It certainly is chili sauce. It's just flavored. You're not gonna get that taste right out of the bottle.

The first time I went to PF Chang's I tried the Dali Chicken and it reminded me of a trick that I do at home with my chili sauce. I add a cup of water and a chicken bullion cube to a healthy dose of sriracha chili sauce in a small sauce pan and heat it up. I've even played with adding garlic, butter, onion powder, ect.. It's essentially flavored sriracha sauce. It makes the flavor more complex than basic chili.

I like to mix up a batch of my chili sauce as described above and then pan fry some chopped chicken breasts until the sauce has thickened. Then I add the spicy chicken to a panini and cook it in my panini machine with red onion, provalone and mayo. It's a hell of a chicken sandwich.

Whatever PF Chang's does with their chili sauce, I'll admit it was pretty good. I really liked the potatoes in that dish, something I never tried adding before.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the reply. Im think i stumbled upon the brand of chili sauce that PF Changs modeled their own after. Its Lan Chi brand, typically only available online or in Asain Market stores, not your average grocery store. I have not recieved it yet as i orderd it on-line.

[shift6]

Re: PF Changs Dali Chicken (Not spicy chicken)

Yes there is Cumin in this dish I luckily went at a time that there was a very informative manager on staff that didnt mind revealing some of the ingredients for me. The chili paste used is simple chili garlic paste, made by the same company that makes the famous rooster shiracha. Its a very plain chili paste that doesnt have all of the extra seasoning that shiracha has. Also like i said there is cumin in the dish giving it that bit of indian flare which brings the dish together. The only thing the manager did not reveal is the base stir fry sauce used. Changs typically uses one of two styles of stir fry sauce in all of their dishes however there are a few that have unique stir fry sauces and the dali chicken is one of those dishes. I do not think there are any special extra ingredients added to the stir fry sauce just a particular combo of the normal ingredients used. The two sauces normally used are the cantonese style and the peking style both of which are readily available through a google search. Im so so close to pining down the exact flavor now that the cumin was revealed, i had already figured out to use the chili garlic sauce prior to being told by the manager but the cumin was the kicker. So there you go people, i was the original poster of this thread and prior to making the original post i had spent almost a year LOL trying to figure out what is turning out to be a very simple dish. I had never had so much trouble with any other recipe before but for some reason this dish gave me trouble, I think because I was thinking about Indian or any other outside influence that may had been in the dish, if only BAXLA had said something months ago prior to me getting it out of the manager at changs i would have flown to your location and thanked you personally LOL! So with that long story being said here is the recipe:

[U]Single serving[/U]

[B]Ingredients[/B]:
1 chicken breast sliced or cubed
1/2 yukon gold potato sliced thin and quarted
Leek greens sliced (as much as you want)
1 Teaspoon cumin powder
*optional* dried chili pods

[B]Stir Fry Sauce[/B]:
2 TBS chicken stock
2 TBS oyster sauce
1 TBS Sherry Wine (rice wine if you have it, NOT RICE VINEGAR, they are different)
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 TBS Soy sauce
2 TBS garlic chili paste (Made by same company that makes famous rooster Shiracha) use less if you want less heat.
1 teaspoon corn starch

Start by heating veggie oil or wok oil in a Wok or pan that could be used like a wok on medium high heat almost to smoking point. Add chicken to wok first cooking for a few minutes on all sides, then add potatoes and cook for a few minutes keeping the chicken and potatoes moving all the time to prevent over-cooking, next add powder cumin for about a minute to release the flavor. (at this point you would also add dried chili pods). Now spread the ingredients around the pan creating a hole in the middle of the wok and now add the stir fry sauce. Let this cook down for a couple minutes and then start moving all the ingredients around again and continue to cook until sauce starts to thicken. Add the leeks when sauce has almost become thick. Also at this point you could add black sesame seeds to add the visual effect you get at changs. Serve over white or brown rice. This is very close to the flavor you get at changs, however there is room for tweaking the stir fry sauce to achieve the exact flavor so suggestions are greatly appreciated.