I love that so many Asian cultures have a version of chicken that’s been marinated, coated with starch and deep-fried. So far, on this blog I’ve made a Japanese version, an Indian version, a Thai version, a Hawaiian version (based on the Japanese version) and a Korean version.
Now it’s Taiwan’s turn. Knowing how good other versions of Asian fried chicken are, I had really high hopes for this version. And those hopes were realized: it was delicious.
There are several versions of this recipe over the Internet, so I used the most basic compilation of a few different versions I had found. Note that like the Korean version, this version gets fried twice, but unlike all the others, it uses sweet potato starch, instead of corn or potato starch.
Enjoy!
What you’ll need for the chicken
- About 1 pound of boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 cup sweet potato starch, divided (available in your local Asian market)
- 1 bunch of basil leaves, plucked from the stem
- Neutral oil for deep-frying
What you’ll need for the chicken marinade
- 1 large egg
- 2T soy sauce
- 1t Chinese five-spice powder
- 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2t sugar
- 1t white pepper
- 0.5t baking soda
For the post-cooking chicken seasoning
- 1t Chinese five-spice powder
- 1t white pepper
- 1t sweet curry powder or curry powder
- Pinch of salt–optional
What to do
Whisk all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl, then add the chicken. With a large spoon or your hands, mix all the chicken pieces to ensure each is covered with marinade. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking to continue marinating.
Add 0.5 cups of the sweet potato starch to the chicken bowl, again mixing it so each piece is covered.
Prepare your oil for deep-frying by beginning to heat it to 350 degrees F in whatever cooking vessel you’re going to use. That’s for the first fry. The second fry will be at 325 degrees F.
Add the remaining 0.5 cups of starch to the chicken and again stir to ensure each piece is covered with a lot of starch. Maybe use your hands for this, it’s better than using a spoon.
When the oil reaches 350 degrees, begin cooking the chicken in small batches by carefully adding the pieces to the oil—cook for about 3 minutes. The chicken should be light golden-brown. Use a wire skimmer to remove the chicken to a rack set over a platter or a paper-towel-lined plate.
Let the chicken cool while the oil cools to 325 degrees. Keep in mind that this will take longer than you may expect. When it hits 325, add the basil leaves and let them cook for a few minutes, till crispy. Maybe have a slash-screen on hand in case the liquid in the leaves causes the oil to bubble and splash. Remove the basil leaves to a paper-towel-lined plate when they’re crispy.
Now cook the chicken a second time, the same way you cooked it the first time, and for the same amount of time. When all the chicken is cooked, drained and on a platter, sprinkle on the cooked basil leaves. Then, mix the post-cooking spices together and evenly sprinkle over the chicken.
Serve hot or warm.
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