Taiwanese Fried Chicken Recipes

TAIWANESE POPCORN CHICKEN

Steps:

• In a bowl, marinate the chicken in the garlic, soy sauce, five spice, garlic powder, white pepper, and salt for 30 minutes. If you are air frying or baking, add a 1/2 tablespoon oil to the marinade.
• Lightly pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Place the cornstarch and potato starch in a bowl and, working in batches, toss and coat several pieces of chicken, making sure they are well coated. Alternatively, put the cornstarch and potato starch in a bag or container, add the chicken, and shake to coat. The chicken should be well coated and look fairly dry.

TAIWANESE FRIED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Smash down fermented bean curd in a large mixing bowl with a spatula. Now add oyster sauce, shaoxing wine, white pepper and garlic then mix all the sauce together. Add the chicken and mix well. Cover and let it marinate for 2 hours to over night.
• Heat frying oil to 350°F.Add sweet potato starch and coat the marinated chicken evenly.
• Carefully drop the chicken one by one in the frying oil. Do 2 to 3 batches to not to crowd the pot. If you crowd the pot too much, the oil temperature will drop to fast and too much. The chicken won't turn out as crispy as it should be. Fry the chicken 3 to 4 minutes or until it's floating on the surface of the oil and fully cooked. When the chicken is done cooking, remove from oil and place on a baking pan lined with cooling rack. Repeat with remaining chicken.
• Now, increase the oil temperature to 375°F.Mix salt, Sichuan pepper corn, white pepper and paprika in a small mixing bowl.
• Add half of the first batch of the fried chicken and fry them for 30 seconds. Now, get ready a lid on your hand that is big enough to cover the frying pot and add handful of basil into frying oil and immediately close the lid. Count 5 seconds and uncover. Remove fried chicken and basil from the oil. Repeat with the remaining chicken and basil.
• Sprinkle dry salt mixture on top of the fried chicken. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

TAIWANESE POPCORN CHICKEN WITH FRIED BASIL

Steps:

• In a large bowl, season chicken thighs with soy sauce, sugar, five-spice powder, white pepper and 2 teaspoons salt. Set aside to marinate about 1 hour at room temperature, or refrigerate it overnight.
• When ready to cook, fit a medium pot with a cooking thermometer and heat vegetable oil over medium to 350 degrees. Coarsely grind the peppercorns in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and mix with the remaining 2 teaspoons kosher salt. Set aside.
• Wet your hands and toss marinated chicken with tapioca flour and about 1 tablespoon water until the tapioca flour looks like small beads and clings to the chicken. (Adding a little moisture to your chicken helps the tapioca flour form small beads that will also stick to the chicken and give it a very crunchy crust.)
• Working in batches, add the battered chicken to the hot oil and fry until golden brown and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. With a slotted spoon or spider, transfer fried chicken to a paper towel-lined plate and season each batch with peppercorn mixture.
• Fry basil leaves until translucent and crisp, 1 to 2 minutes, then scatter over the fried chicken. Serve with leftover peppercorn mixture for sprinkling to taste.

CHINESE STYLE FRIED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Cut chicken into inch pieces.
• Whisk together egg whites and soy sauce.
• Soak chicken in soy mixture for 20 minutes covered in the fridge.
• Add 2 cups oil to wok or deep fryer.
• Heat wok to 350°F.
• Put cornstarch and flour into a reseal able plastic freezer bag.
• Add chicken to bag a little at a time, shake until evenly coated. Add more of the 50/50 flour mixture as needed to finish the job.
• Add chicken to wok.
• Fry 15 seconds only. No browning yet!
• Remove chicken and place aside on a cookie sheet or bowl lined with paper towels.
• After all of the chicken has cooked for 15 seconds let cool for a few minutes.
• Fry it an additional 15-20 seconds or until golden.
• Always check meat. If it is pink it needs to be cooked longer.
• Top with your favorite lemon or orange sauce.