Not only renowned for their beautiful scenery, outstanding firework at the Taipei 101, Taiwanese cuisine is also one of its attraction to tourists from around the globe. Taiwanese food is a great combination of Chinese tradition with a delicate note of Japanese culinary art, once you try it you will never forget.
Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken is popular street food and it is really easy to make at home. Join me in the kitchen and let’s bring Taiwanese flavour to your home!
THE RECIPE
Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken
Serving 2-4 people
| Prep time | Cook time |
|---|---|
| 10 mins | 20 mins |
Ingredients:
| Chicken thigh | 1kg |
| Garlic | 15g |
| Ginger | 15g |
| Soy sauce | 60ml |
| Sesame oil | 20ml |
| Shaoxing wine / cooking wine | 20ml |
| Sugar | 20g |
| Five spice powder | 5g |
| Tapioca starch / sweet potato starch | 1 cup |
| Basil leaves | 10g |
Spiced salt:
| Five spice powder | 5g |
| Salt | 5g |
| Pepper | 5g |
Method:
1. Mince garlic and ginger really fine. Chicken thigh cut into bite size pieces.
2. In a large bowl, combine the chicken with minced garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, shaoxing wine, sugar and five spice powder. Mix well and let it marinade for 10 minutes.
3. Prepare some cooking oil. Heat up the oil to 150*C, when the oil reach this temperature, fry the basil leaves until crispy and translucent (around 20 second). Be careful, the oil may flash a little bit. Remove from the oil and drain.
4. Place Tapioca starch / sweet potato starch in a large bowl, dusk the chicken with the flour and shake off the excess.
5. Heat the oil to 170*C and then start frying the chicken. Do it patch by patch, do not over crownded the oil or it wont be crispy. Each patch should take around 4-5 minutes to cook.
6. After the chicken is cooked, remove from the oil and drain of the excess oil.
7. To make the spice salt, simply add all the ingredient in a pan, medium heat, without oil for 2 minutes or until fragrant.
8. Sprinkle the spice salt over the chicken, then toss with the fried basil and your Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken is finish! Enjoy while it hot.
