Night-Market Master Popcorn Chicken with Toasted Pepper Salt

Method

1. Cut the chicken, skin on, into 3 cm pieces. Finely grate half the garlic and the ginger over it, then add the light soy, rice wine, sugar, about three fifths each of the five-spice and white pepper, the sesame oil and the egg white. Knead for 1 minute. The egg white coats the meat and keeps it juicy after frying. Cover and refrigerate for 2 h.

   Add in this stepBoneless chicken thighs, skin on 340 gGarlic cloves (half grated, half sliced) 2½Fresh ginger 8 gLight soy sauce 2 tbspTaiwanese rice wine or Shaoxing wine 1½ tbspSugar 1 tspFive-spice powder ¼ tspGround white pepper ½ tspToasted sesame oil 1 tspEgg (white only) 1

2. Put the salt in a small dry pan and toast on low heat for 2 min, stirring, to drive off moisture. When it is sandy and faintly ivory, turn off the heat and stir in the remaining five-spice and white pepper and the chilli powder. The residual heat blooms the spices into a toasty pepper salt nothing like the shop-bought kind.

   Add in this stepSalt ½ tspFive-spice powder ¼ tspGround white pepper ¼ tspChilli powder (optional) to taste

   low heat

3. Slice the remaining garlic evenly 2 mm thin. Pick the basil leaves and pat them completely dry. Any moisture on either makes the oil spit badly.

4. Shake off excess marinade, press the chicken firmly into the coarse starch to coat thickly and spread on a plate for 5 min. Once the starch turns damp in patches, the coating clings and puffs up knobbly when fried.

   Add in this stepCoarse sweet potato starch 100 g

5. Pour oil into a deep 20 cm pot, no more than one third full, and heat on medium heat for 8 min to 150 °C. A thermometer is the most reliable way. Turn the handle inwards and keep a lid nearby.

   Add in this stepNeutral oil, for deep-frying 0.8 L

   medium heat

6. Slide the chicken in piece by piece at the edge and fry on medium heat in 2 batches, 4 min 30 sec per batch. Frying low and slow renders fat from the skin and cooks the meat evenly. When pale golden, rest on a rack for about 2 minutes.

   medium heat

7. Turn up to high heat to bring the oil to 185 °C and refry the chicken for 1 min 30 sec in total (40 to 60 seconds per batch, same batches). Lift out when the skin is deep golden, puffed and blistered, and drain on the rack. Check the largest piece: white inside with clear juices (75 °C in the centre).

   high heat

8. Turn down to medium-low heat and wait about a minute for the oil to drop to roughly 160 °C, then fry the garlic slices for 45 sec until pale gold and lift them out at once; dark brown garlic is bitter. Next fry the basil for 5 to 10 seconds, standing back as it spits hard. Toss the chicken, garlic chips and basil in a bowl with the toasted pepper salt while hot.

   Add in this stepGarlic cloves (half grated, half sliced) 2½Basil leaves (Taiwanese or Thai basil) 12 g

   medium-low heat