taiwanese popcorn chicken
ingredients
chicken thighs (more moist than chicken breasts)
basil leaves
sweet potato starch (thick)
marinade ingredients
2 tbsp soy sauce
5-8 cloves of garlic
1/2 tbsp five-spice powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 egg white
2 tbsp all-purpose flour or cornstarch
2 tbsp xiaoxing wine
1/4th cup orange juice (optional)
cooking steps
Cut the chicken thighs into bite sized/quarter sized pieces.
Place into a bowl with soy sauce, minced garlic, five-spice powder, onion powder, egg white, orange juice (optional), and flour/cornstarch. Mix thoroughly and let it marinate for 15 minutes.
Bread every piece with the sweet potato starch! I use a very special kind, that can be hard to find. If you can’t find it then any standard Asian-brand sweet potato starch should work.
Heat up oil (2-3 inches tall is enough) in a wok. It’s hot enough when you can put some breading in and it’ll start bubbling/frying. If it’s really loud then it’s a little too hot — there is a special balance where it’s hot enough to fry but it shouldn’t be attacking you. If it starts attacking you, just quickly add all the chicken and turn the heat down LOL good luck! You’ll get the hang of it with practice.
I flip it over once it looks golden brown (not TOO golden brown) and this usually takes around 3-5 minutes on each side. Please make sure not to burn it! It’s better to be safe, take it out, check if it’s cooked inside, and if not you can just re-fry it again.
Add basil into the oil when you’re done and you can use that as garnish! (Be careful, basil has a lot of moisture so it will definitely attack you. This is normal.)
If you need a more visual recipe, I actually have a video on my Youtube channel: