Taiwanese Fried Chicken | Popular Taiwanese Street Food Recipe
Author: 
Recipe type: Snacks
Cuisine: Taiwanese
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4 Servings
 
Ingredients
  • Chicken thighs – 500 gms, boneless & skinless
  • Eggs – 2
  • Water – ¼ cup
  • Cornstarch/corn flour – 2 cups
  • Vegetable oil for deep frying
  • Thai basil leaves – 1 cup, tightly packed
For pepper powder blend:
  • White peppercorns – 2 tsp
  • Sichuan peppercorns – 2 tsp
  • Salt – 1 tsp
  • Red chili powder – 1 tsp
For chicken marinade:
  • Ginger – 1-inch piece, grated
  • Garlic – 5 to 6 cloves, grated
  • Chinese 5 spice – ½ tsp
  • Soy sauce – 2 tbsp
  • Mirin – 1 tbsp
  • Cornstarch/corn flour – 1 tsp
Instructions
  1. Cut the chicken thighs into small bite-sized pieces. You can use chicken breast too instead of thighs. Set it aside.
  2. First make the pepper powder blend by grinding the white peppercorns and Sichuan peppercorns in a mortar & pestle until you get a fine powder.
  3. Transfer ¾ of the pepper powder mixture from the mortar to a small bowl. Add salt and red chili powder to the bowl and give a good mix. Your pepper sprinkle is ready. Set it aside until needed.
  4. Now transfer the remaining ¼ of the pepper powder mixture to a large mixing bowl in which you will be marinating the chicken.
  5. To the same bowl, add Chinese 5 spice powder, soy sauce, mirin and cornstarch or corn flour. Give everything a good mix to make a uniform mixture. Your marinade is ready.
  6. Now add the cut chicken pieces to the prepared marinade and coat them thoroughly with the marinating mixture. This marinade is the primary flavor, hence take your time to mix everything really well. Leave the chicken to marinade for 30 minutes.
  7. When you are ready to fry, heat enough vegetable oil in a deep frying wok for deep fry.
  8. While the oil is heating, whisk 2 eggs in a bowl with ¼ cup of water & pinch of salt. Also spread the cornstarch on a shallow plate.
  9. Now start coating the chicken by first dipping each chicken piece into egg mixture, lift it up to let the excess liquid drip off, then lightly coat it in cornstarch on all sides and finally tip into the hot oil.
  10. Do not overcrowd the pan while frying, else the fried chicken will not come out crispy. Continue deep frying them on medium heat until they turn beautiful golden brown on all sides, flip them over in between for even cooking; it would take about 6 to 8 minutes per batch to cook the chicken completely.
  11. Take them out using a slotted spoon and place on a plate lined with absorbent kitchen towel to soak excess oil. Immediately sprinkle little bit of the prepared pepper powder mixture on top of the hot fried chicken.
  12. Fry the remaining pieces of chicken similarly and hit them with pepper mixture once they are cooked and out of oil.
  13. Now in the same oil, tip in the Thai basil leaves. Be careful as the leaves tend to splatter a lot of oil. Fry them just for couple of minutes on medium heat until they turn super crispy. Take them out and place on absorbent kitchen towel.
  14. While serving your hot Taiwanese fried chicken, pile up the fried chicken pieces on a serving bowl and then scatter the crispy fried Thai basil leaves on top.
  15. Finally, sprinkle the pepper powder mixture generously all over and serve the delicious & hot Taiwanese fried chicken along with your favorite drink! Enjoy!
Recipe by Flavor Quotient at http://www.flavorquotient.com/2020/08/taiwanese-fried-chicken/