It's an ubiquitous street food of bite-sized pieces of chicken flavored with Asian spices and seasonings, coated in starch and deep fried until a crispy crust forms on the surface.
Cook’s notes
It’s popcorn chicken the way it’s understood in the West. But it tastes nothing like Western popcorn chicken because it is seasoned with Asian spices and seasonings including Chinese five-spice powder, ground toasted Sichuan peppercorns, rice wine and oyster sauce.
It is much crispier than Western popcorn chicken too because it is double fried. The chicken pieces are first fried at a lower temperature to cook the meat through, left to rest to allow the meat juices to settle, then fried at a higher temperature to create the crispy crust.
Chicken thigh fillets are ideal for cooking Taiwanese popcorn chicken but if you prefer breast meat, feel free to substitute. Just remember that chicken breast meat will dry our faster so a shorter frying time is recommended.
Taiwanese popcorn chicken with fried Thai basil
Ingredients
- 500 grams chicken fillets 1.1 pounds
- 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder divided
- 1 ½ tablespoons salt divided
- ½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns toasted and ground (measure after grinding), divided
- ½ teaspoon ground white pepper divided
- 1 egg white
- 6 tablespoons potato starch divided
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- cooking oil
- 1 generous handful Thai basil leaves
To garnish
- Chinese five-spice powder
- rock salt
- toasted and ground Sichuan peppercorns
Instructions
- Wipe the chicken fillets dry with paper towels and cut into bite-sized pieces.
- Place the chicken in a bowl. Add the oyster sauce, rice wine, half of the five-spice powder, half of the salt, half of the Sichuan peppercorns and half of the ground white pepper. Mix well.
- Add the egg white and two tablespoons potato starch, and mix.
- Cover the bowl and leave the chicken to marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- In a wok or frying pan, heat enough cooking oil to reach a depth of at least three inches.
- In a small bowl, stir together the remaining five-spice powder, salt, Sichuan peppercorns, white pepper and baking powder.
- Take the chicken out of the fridge and toss with the remaining potato starch. Shake off the excess.
- Over medium heat (about 300F), fry the chicken for three to four minutes, or just until a crust pale forms on the surface.
- Scoop out the chicken, dump into a strainer (or spread on a rack) and allow to rest for a couple of minutes.
- Turn up the heat to high (350F) and fry the chicken a second time for about a minute.
- Add the Thai basil leaves to the chicken and continue frying for a minute or until the Thai basil leaves start to turn crisp.
- Scoop out the chicken and Thai basil and dump into a clean bowl.
- Sprinkle in a bit of five-spice powder, a few pinches of rock salt and Sichuan peppercorns over the chicken and Thai basil, and toss a few times.
- Transfer the Taiwanese popcorn chicken to a plate and serve at once.
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