Thai basil is a variety of basil that comes from Southeast Asia. These fried basil leaves not only add a pop of green color to the dish but help perfume the popcorn slightly with a touch of anise. Taiwanese popcorn chicken is often served with fried Thai basil leaves as well. The chicken won’t be quite as crisp as if you had used the sweet potato starch but it will still be pretty amazing. So if you can’t find sweet potato starch, available online (affiliate link) and in well-stocked Asian market, use the same amount of cornstarch. After testing recipes with tapioca starch, regular potato starch and cornstarch, I found the cornstarch to be the closest in texture and crunch to the traditional sweet potato starch. ![]() Some recipes will have you using tapioca starch instead, but when I tested that out, I found the chicken to be less crisp. This gives the chicken a crisp coating that is one of the signatures of the dish. Traditional Taiwanese popcorn chicken is fried in sweet potato starch. Once the marinade has done it’s magic, heat up some oil, dip the chicken in an egg and water mixture, then coat in sweet potato starch, and fry it up! Season with some salt, five-spice, and white pepper then garnish with a few fried Thai basil leaves and serve. Combine and let the chicken marinade for 30 minutes or overnight. Then make a marinade, using a lot of garlic (a whole head!), ginger, green onions, mirin (a sweet rice wine), a little bit of sweet potato starch, five-spice, white pepper and cayenne pepper or Sichuan peppercorns. Prep the boneless skinless chicken thighs by cutting them into 2-inch pieces. Making Taiwanese popcorn chicken is easier than it sounds. How do you make Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken? Unlike karaage though, the Taiwanese-style fried chicken is pulled from the fryer, dusted with a seasoning, usually a mix of white pepper and five spice, and then served immediately, whereas Japanese karaage is often served with mayonnaise and a wedge of lemon. It’s similar to Japanese karaage, as it is marinated before being dipped in an egg wash and a starch coating before frying. Taiwanese Popcorn chicken is marinated and fried pieces of chicken, often found in cafes, boba shops or night markets in Taiwan. One bite of it and I immediately thought to myself, this is what Taiwan taste like. It’s a typical street food (and trust me when I tell you the Taiwanese love their street food) eaten by everyone in Taiwan. ![]() In that way, it’s similar to Japanese Karaage, though the Taiwanese version is not served with any sort of dipping sauce, but instead sprinkled with salt, white pepper and a touch of five-spice as well as garnished with fried Thai basil leaves. Unlike American fried chicken where the flavoring mostly comes from the coating, or Korean fried chicken where the flavoring comes from the sauce, Taiwanese fried chicken starts with a umami rich soy sauce base marinade that permeates the meat of the chicken. ![]() If you’ve never had Taiwanese popcorn chicken, known as Yansu Ji (literally translated to salted crispy chicken), it’s a super flavorful fried chicken. This Taiwanese popcorn chicken recipe is a flavorful fried chicken marinated in garlic, ginger, 5-spice and white pepper before being deep fried.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |