Taiwanese-style Fried Chicken

[zhemao]

This marks the first time I actually remembered to take a picture of my cooking before I ate it. So here's my recipe for the dish on the left, Taiwanese-style fried chicken. This is basically a much less healthy version of five-spice roast chicken. After marinating, the chicken is coated in starch and flour and then deep-fried to get a delicious crunchiness. If you've ever had Japanese kara-age before, this dish is quite similar, except for the addition of five-spice powder.

To make this dish, I highly recommend getting a pair of cooking chopsticks. These are longer than regular chopsticks and will distance your hand from the hot oil. It would also be helpful to get a hand strainer.

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast


• Rice wine


• Soy sauce


• Five-spice powder


• Starch (tapioca, corn, or potato starch should work)


• Flour (all-purpose flour is fine; use rice flour if you want to make it gluten-free)


• Vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Using a paring knife or skewer, poke a bunch of small holes in the chicken. This will help it marinate thoroughly


2. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces


3. Put the chicken in a sealable container and add some rice wine, soy sauce, and five-spice powder. Mix to distribute evenly.


4. Let the chicken marinate in the fridge for 15-30 minutes


5. Take the chicken out. The liquid should have been almost completely absorbed.


6. Put the chicken back on the cutting board and dust with a bit of starch. Mix around so that the chicken is evenly covered. This helps absorb the excess moisture so that the chicken is chewy on the inside but nice and crispy on the outside.


7. Dust the chicken with flour. Make sure there is a nice even coating over the surface of each piece.


8. Fill a pot with cooking oil so that it's deep enough to cover the chicken.


9. Turn the range to medium heat and bring up the temperature. To test if it's ready, you can dip your cooking chopsticks in. If they start bubbling, it's hot enough.


10. Place the chicken in the oil. Make sure there's enough room at the bottom so that the pieces aren't touching each other. Do it in multiple batches if you have too much chicken.


11. When the outside of the a chicken piece starts to firm up on the bottom, flip it over to ensure even cooking. You should do this from time to time.


12. As the chicken cooks, prepare a cooling plate by putting two layers of paper towels on a plate. You will need this to absorb the excess oil.


13. The chicken is done cooking once the outside turns a golden brown. This shouldn't take very long.


14. Remove each piece by picking up with chopsticks, shaking to get rid of oil, and placing it on the cooling plate.


15. Once the chicken has cooled a bit, move them to another plate.


16. At this point, the chicken is fully cooked. But if you want a nice crispiness and crunchiness to the outer layer, there's one more step.


17. Use the hand strainer to remove any loose bits of fried dough from the oil. Then turn the heat to high.


18. You can tell that the oil is hot enough by dipping the chopsticks. If it starts to bubble quite furiously, it's ready.


19. Place the chicken pieces back in for a second fry. The oil should bubble quite fiercely when you place them in, so be careful of spattering.


20. Cook the pieces until they turn a darker brown. This should happen almost instantly. Do it in small batches so that you don't burn them. Once you've put a batch in, take them out and put them on the cooling plate immediately.


21. Move the chicken pieces to the serving plate once they've cooled a bit and the excess oil has been absorbed by the paper towel.

And that's basically it. The outer layer should be nice and crunchy, and the inside should be tender and juicy. There will also be a very fragrant aroma from the soy sauce and five spice powder.