No more Go For Tea!

Us Markham/Richmond Hill folks are no stranger to Go For Tea Restaurant, in fact, Tyler and I have spent endless hours hanging out in this Taiwanese teahouse with other mommies and babies during my year off. Hubby's favorite thing to order there is the Popcorn Chicken, which is more appropriately called the "Salty -Peppery chicken" in chinese.I was so excited when I came across the recipe from one of my favorite blog - Momofuku for 2,and made it right away!

Taiwanese Crispy Salty Peppery Chicken Recipe adapted from Micky’s Fav. Taiwanese Recipes
4 boneless chicken thighs, diced into 1 inch pieces
1 egg yolk
1 cup sweet potato starch (Can be found in any chinese grocery store like T&T)
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 cup soy sauce (reduce this to 1 tablespoon, see note)
2 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoons 5 spice powder
1 teaspoon white pepper
frying oil

In a large bowl, mix minced garlic, soy sauce, mirin, sugar, 1/2 tablespoon of 5 spice powder, and white pepper. Marinate the chicken overnight.

The next day, add the egg yolk and corn starch into the marinated chicken and mix it well.

In a bowl,  mix the sweet potato starch, the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of 5 spice powder, and garlic powder. This is the coating for the fried chicken.

Coat each piece of chicken completely with the mix. Let it sit for about 5 mins before frying so that the sweet potato starch has time to stick onto the chicken.

Heat a pot of frying oil over medium heat to 350˚F. Fry the chicken in batches until golden brown. Remove from the oil and drain on a cooling rack. Turn the heat to high so the oil reaches 375˚F.

Fry the chicken pieces for a second time in the oil for about 10 seconds to make it extra crispy.

Toss in any herbs you are deep frying.
Drain the chicken on a cooling rack and serve hot.

Because I had intended to make this for a weeknight dinner, I did "cut some corners", I didn't marinate the meat the night before, I actually did it when I got home at 6pm.  The chicken meat sat in the marinade for 30 min, while I cooked rice, got myself and baby changed! I also didn't let the chicken sit for 5 minute before frying, I coated each piece and fried it right away (Too lazy to get an extra plate for the coated chicken), and I didn't fry the chicken pieces for a second time, since the chicken pieces were pretty small, they were already fully cooked, brown and crispy after the first fry, so I didn't think there was a need to deep fry it again.  The result was amazing and got my hubby's stamp of approval!! I served it with rice and some chinese vegetable, and surprised to find that the chicken was still crispy and tasty the next day!

I know that a lot of home cooks don't like deep frying because they don't know what to do with all the left over oil, and I used to be one of them.  But for this recipe, I didn't really have to use that much oil at all, I deep fried the chicken using a small and deep pot.  I filtered the leftover oil through a coffee filter and into a glass jar for deep frying next time.

So I highly recommend this recipe and can't wait to make it again, maybe next time I will try to make some bubbletea to go with it too! And I don't REALLY mean NO MORE GO FOR TEA, I love hanging out there with my friends and ordering the paper hot pot (maybe I should attempt that too.....)!