大鸡排/香鸡排 Taiwanese Giant Fried Chicken Breast

Taiwan is famous for their street food and especially their night markets. Much of the food you find in Taiwanese night markets has been deep fried in some way like Taiwan's 大鸡排 Giant Fried Chicken Breast. Maybe not the kind of food you want to eat everyday but for a thrilling night out Taiwan style it is just perfect. Hot, juicy and moist chicken bursting with exotic flavor, encased in a delicious crispy coating and sprinkled liberally with chili powder and Sichuan peppercorn salt. Yum! Best Fried Chicken I have ever had.

The picture below of a 大鸡排 off the streets of Taiwan gives you an idea of just how big these really are. 大 big is no exaggeration. You guys are in for a big treat when you make this. Food this delicious you just can't come in dainty size. Big is the way to go, anything else would leave us all unsatisfied!

http://tinyurl.com/ngttrmx

It wouldn't be all that nice to tell you how delicious it is and then just leave it at, someday when you are vacationing in Taiwan... Thanks to a recipe I found on a Taiwanese cooking show you all can try it even if you are a million miles away and that vacation (which I highly recommend!!!) is out of reach. So here is the recipe which I have translated and cooked up so you all can have step by step pictures. To watch it being made go to the links provided below. This is also the source for this recipe.

Part 1 www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E210ypC3BI
Part 2 www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOJNPzd3hXA
Part 3 www.youtube.com/watch?=OxjKO0Coxlo

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts in western speech (2 in Asian speech)

Coating:
1 cup sweet potato powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. 5 spice powder

Marinade:
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp. rice wine
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. chopped garlic
1 Tbsp. chili powder (optional or use paprika if you don't like spicy food)

3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 egg

Optional seasonings
Chili powder (for sprinkling on hot fried chicken breasts)
Sichuan peppercorn powder salt (for sprinkling on hot fried chicken breasts)

The picture below shows what westerners refer to as a chicken breast. In Asia a chicken breast refers to both sides of the breast with bone. If you live in Asia you will want to split the chicken breast into two halves. Taiwan Fried Chicken has the bone left on the breast. If you are in the west like me and the chicken breast you can buy at the store looks like the picture below and the bone has been removed it is no big deal.

Butterfly the chicken breast then use a meat pounder if needed to pound it out to an even thickness of about 3/4 of an inch thick. So much is removed from chicken breast in the west so what is left is a lot smaller, Because of this your Fried Chicken Breasts won't be as big as those sold on the street in Taiwan but that is okay.

To make the marinade mix together 1 Tbsp. chopped garlic, 1 tsp. five spice powder, 2 Tbsp. rice wine, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 2 Tbsp. sugar, 1 Tbsp. chili powder.

Place chicken breasts into the marinade one at a time, dipping both sides into the marinade and then making sure each breast is completely submerged before adding another chicken breast. Marinate for 30 minutes.

Asian markets carry two types of sweet potato starch. The one you want is a powder, not the one with visible clumps. If you feel it through the package you will notice it is not completely smooth but has some grit. This is what you want.

This picture gives you an idea of what the texture will be like.

To the sweet potato powder add in 1 tsp. garlic powder and 1 tsp. five spice powder. At this point you will want to place some oil for deep frying over medium-low to medium heat. I used medium heat on my electric stove.

Pour out a little over half the marinade.

To the chicken breasts and remaining marinade add 1 egg yolk and 3 Tbsp. cornstarch.

Mix gently until the egg and starch is evenly distributed throughout the marinade and coats the chicken breasts. This allows the marinade to stick to the chicken breast making it oh so moist and delicious.

Dip both sides of the chicken in the sweet potato powder mixture...

...until completely coated. Shake off excess loose powder.

Check to make sure the oil is preheated (175 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit). If you place chopsticks in the middle of the pot you should see bubble forming around chopsticks at the surface of the oil. Carefully lay one chicken breast into the oil.

Cook on both sides about 1-1.5 minute per side or until golden brown. Check to make sure chicken is cooked through. If it is not cooked through by the time the coating browns then your oil is too hot. If your coating does not brown in 2-3 minutes then your heat is too low.

Remove from the oil and let it drain on some paper towels or in a colander. Repeat with the rest of the breasts.

Once all the chicken breast are fried turn the heat to high. Place the chicken, one at a time, back into the oil for several seconds to get extra crispy but not too long or they will be too dark and won't taste good.

Sprinkle with Sichuan peppercorn powder and chili powder if desired (use paprika if you don't like it too spicy). Below is a picture of the packaging (at least for the brand I have) for Sichuan peppercorn powder. The characters you want to look for and the ones in red with a white background 花椒粉 pronounced hua jiao fen.  In Taiwan they use a salt and Sichuan peppercorn blend. I don't think it needs the extra salt so I prefer to use just the Sichuan peppercorn powder without salt added. You can do it according to your personal taste. If you can't find Sichuan peppercorn powder you can grind the peppercorns yourself. A substitute I would suggest is cumin powder mixed with white, black or pink peppercorn powder.

Cool slightly and serve hot.

It is also great cold.

Hope you all enjoyed this recipe and let me know what your favorite Taiwanese street food is and maybe in the near future a recipe for it will show up on this blog. Til then eat well and love life.