Taiwanese popcorn chicken

Taiwanese popcorn chicken is popular street food snack, commonly found at Taiwanese night markets. Rumour has it that local street stall cooks created Taiwanese popcorn chicken with inspiration from American fried chicken in the late 70s and its popularity endures to this day. Seasoned with salt, pepper, fried basil leaves, this dish is always made with either chicken thigh or diced leg meat - never the leaner chicken breast.

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

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Ingredients

• 600 g chicken thigh fillets (preferably skin-on), cut into 3 cm chunks
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp finely grated ginger
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 2 tsp sugar
• ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp five spice powder
• Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
• 1 cup loosely packed basil or Thai basil leaves
• 1 cup Taiwanese coarse sweet potato flour (see Note)

For the five spice salt (makes extra)

• 1 tbsp salt
• ¼ tsp five spice powder
• ¼ tsp white pepper
• A pinch of chilli powder

Marinating time: 10 minutes

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine the chicken pieces with the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, wine, sugar, bicarb soda and five spice powder and mix well to combine. Set aside and allow to marinate for 10 minutes before using.
   
2. Heat enough oil for deep-frying in a large saucepan or wok. When the oil reaches 150˚C, deep-fry the basil leaves (caution – they will spatter!) and gently stir with a metal slotted spoon until the leaves are crisp and translucent. The oil will spatter significantly when the basil is added, so use a deep fryer splash guard or large lid to prevent oil spitting out of the pan. Remove the basil leaves from the pan and drain on a paper-towel lined plate.
3. Remove the chicken from marinade and toss in a second large bowl with the sweet potato flour until well-coated.
   
4. Increase the heat of the oil to 170˚C and deep-fry the chicken in batches for about 3 minutes, or until golden-brown and cooked through, regularly skimming any floating flour bits from the oil.
   
5. To make the spiced salt, combine the ingredients and dry-toast in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat for 2 minutes, or until fragrant.
   
6. To serve, toss the chicken with the fried basil leaves and a generous pinch of the spiced salt, then transfer to a serving platter.
   

Note

• Taiwanese coarse sweet potato flour has a coarser texture than regular potato flour and can be found in Asian supermarkets.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

Crispy Bites

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

G

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

G