This is a not something you would think of making at home but if you’ve ever had this at the Chinese then you know the you always want more. Garlicky, spicy, crunchy and salty make this a happy dish for your Friday night in. You can use chicken thighs or breast but the thighs are more succulent. It works equally well with turkey or pork.
I really like to add some smoked salt to this dish and it is a lot easier to make than you think. Simply hunt for a smoked bulb of garlic in a good quality supermarket. Place the garlic bulb in a jar and cover with salt. Leave for one to two weeks and then remove the garlic. You now have smoked salt.
Serves: 3-4 with other dishes
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Take your time
1 bulb of Garlic
4 chilli’s
1 teaspoon of Smoked Salt or normal rock salt
400g/14 oz of Chicken thighs (deboned) or breast
5 heaped tablespoons of Corn Flour
15g/0.5 oz of Fresh Coriander
1 tablespoon of Cracked Black Pepper
- Begin by dicing the chicken into pieces no bigger than 4cm x4cm.
- Peel the garlic cloves and slice into thin pieces. Chop your chilli’s in circular pieces making sure you remove any seeds. Roughly chop the coriander removing the stems.
- Toss the chicken in the corn flour ensuring all the chicken is coated.
- Now to shallow fry the chicken: Heat 3 cm of vegetable oil in a large saucepan. Heating until you reach 180 degrees Celsius (360 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Add chicken in at least two batches cooking the first batch for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown. Taking note of how long it takes the chicken to be golden brown. Remove from the pan and keep warm in the oven.
- Next add the second batch, but, half way though the cooking time for the chicken previously to become golden brown, add the chilli and garlic. Once the chicken and the garlic has become golden brown remove from the pan.
- Add the to a large bowl and toss with a teaspoon of the smoked salt, black pepper and most of the coriander
- Serve and garnish with remaining coriander.
Recipes from my kitchen, Edinburgh, Scotland 