It bears nothing in common with its Chinese ancestor except for the spicy chili-based sauce, but this dish of fried chicken fillets tossed in sweet chili mayo is just as satisfying.
Connie’s Notes
This is an updated recipe with major changes. No, I won’t be reproducing the old bang bang chicken recipe because I don’t find it good enough anymore. The modifications introduced here I find life-altering that I should rename the dish Bang Bang Bang Chicken.
What modifications? How to make bang bang sauce and how to fry the chicken.
To the mayo-sweet chili sauce mix, I add shichimi togarashi, a Japanese spice mix that contains seven different ingredients that include chili, sansho (related to but not the same as Sichuan peppercorns), citrus peel (orange or yuzu), seeds and, occasionally, aonori. I also add gochujang, a fermented chili paste from Korea.
One bang each from the sweet chili sauce, shichimi toragashi and gochujang. Bang bang bang chicken sauce.
Now, about double frying. It’s really one of the secrets to fried chicken that stays crisp even as it starts to cool. The first frying cooks the chicken through. The second frying removes remaining moisture in the crust to give it the perfect crisp. Just see the difference for yourself. The left photo above shows the chicken after the first frying; the right photo shows the chicken after the second frying.
The trick here is to have enough sauce to coat each piece of chicken but not drown the chicken that you can’t taste the natural flavor of the meat anymore. You don’t want to cover the beautiful crust with too much sauce either.
The ingredients for the sauce in the list below I find just enough for half a kilo (1.1 pounds) of chicken. If you think there’s not enough sauce in there and it won’t hurt to add more, I suggest that you just serve extra on the side for dipping.
Bang bang bang chicken sauce
The most common formula for making the spicy sauce is to mix mayo and sweet chili sauce together but, in this recipe, we go farther.
To the mayo-sweet chili sauce mix, I add shichimi togarashi, a Japanese spice mix that contains seven different ingredients that include chili, sansho (related to but not the same as Sichuan peppercorns), citrus peel (orange or yuzu), seeds and, occasionally, aonori. I also add gochujang, a fermented chili paste from Korea.
One bang each from the sweet chili sauce, shichimi toragashi and gochujang. Bang bang bang chicken sauce.
Use potato starch and double fry the chicken
Cornstarch is the default in Chinese cooking. In Japanese cooking, it’s potato starch. It wasn’t until I learned to cook chicken karaage properly that I appreciated the difference in the crust when the chicken is tossed in potato starch rather than cornstarch. The crust is crisp but light and fluffy like a cloud.
Now, about double frying. It’s really one of the secrets to fried chicken that stays crisp even as it starts to cool. The first frying cooks the chicken through. The second frying removes remaining moisture in the crust to give it the perfect crisp. Just see the difference for yourself. The left photo above shows the chicken after the first frying; the right photo shows the chicken after the second frying.
A final tip
You have the perfect sauce and perfectly fried chicken fillets. You just need to combine them.
The trick here is to have enough sauce to coat each piece of chicken but not drown the chicken that you can’t taste the natural flavor of the meat anymore. You don’t want to cover the beautiful crust with too much sauce either.
The ingredients for the sauce in the list below I find just enough for half a kilo (1.1 pounds) of chicken. If you think there’s not enough sauce in there and it won’t hurt to add more, I suggest that you just serve extra on the side for dipping.
Ingredients
Chicken
- 500 grams skin-on chicken thigh fillets - (1.1 pounds)
- ¼ cup buttermilk - (or substitute 2 tablespoons evaporated milk + 2 tablespoons water)
- ½ teaspoon grated garlic
- ½ teaspoon grated ginger
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
Bang bang bang chicken sauce
- ⅓ cup Japanese mayo
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 to 3 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon shichimi togarashi - (Japanese spice mix)
- 1 teaspoon gochujang - (Korean chili paste)
- 1 dash lemon juice
For frying
- ½ cup potato starch
- cooking oil - for deep frying
To garnish
- sliced scallions
Instructions
Season and marinate the chicken
- Pat the chicken fillets with paper towels then cut into one-inch cubes.
- Place the cubed chicken in a bowl. Add the buttermilk, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper and sugar. Mix well.
- Cover the bowl and let the chicken marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Mix the bang bang bang sauce
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together all the ingredients for the sauce.
- Taste and add one or more of the ingredients to adjust the balance.
Double fry the chicken
- Start heating enough oil in the wok or frying pan to reach a depth of at least two inches.
- Take the chicken fillets out of fridge, dump in the potato starch and mix to make a thin pasty batter.
- Fry the battered chicken at 325F, in batches if necessary, until very lightly browned, about five minutes.
- Scoop out the chicken, spread on a rack (or a plate lined with paper towels) and leave to rest for about five minutes.
- Reheat the oil in the pan. Use HIGH setting (if using a thermometer, the oil should be around 375F).
- Fry the chicken just until golden brown, about a minute.
Assemble your bang bang bang chicken
- Scoop out the chicken, add to the sauce and toss to coat each piece.
- Transfer to a serving boil and garnish with sliced scallions.
