Taiwanese Salt and Pepper Chicken

Ingredients

• 600g boneless chicken thigh, cut into 3cm pieces
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice wine
• 1 tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp five spice powder
• 1 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 egg
• 200g coarse sweet potato starch
• 1.5 litres neutral oil, for frying
• 1 large handful Thai or Taiwanese basil leaves
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp ground white pepper, for the seasoning
• 1/2 tsp five spice powder, for the seasoning
• 1/4 tsp chilli powder

Before you cook

• Cut the chicken thigh into 3cm pieces, leaving the skin on.
• Mix the chicken with the soy sauce, rice wine, garlic, sugar, five spice, white pepper and egg.
• Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours, or overnight.
• Stir the fine salt, white pepper, five spice and chilli powder together in a small bowl.
• Wash the basil leaves and dry them completely on kitchen paper.

Steps

1. Tip the coarse sweet potato starch into a wide bowl.
2. Press each piece of marinated chicken into the starch and squeeze it so the coating grips in flakes.
3. Lay the coated pieces on a tray and leave them for five minutes until the starch looks damp rather than powdery.
4. Heat the oil in a deep pan to 160C.
5. Drop the dried basil leaves in for ten seconds until they stop sizzling, then lift them out onto kitchen paper.
6. Raise the oil to 175C.
7. Fry the chicken in three batches for three minutes each, keeping the pieces moving.
8. Lift each batch onto a rack and let the oil come back up to temperature between batches.
9. Raise the oil to 190C for the second fry.
10. Return all the chicken to the pan for forty-five seconds, until the crust is dark gold and audibly crisp.
11. Drain the chicken on a rack for ten seconds.
12. Tip the hot chicken into a large bowl, sprinkle over the seasoning salt and toss twice.
13. Fold through the fried basil and serve immediately.