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I remember those spontaneous trips to Taiwan for the night markets! 🇹🇼 When I was still living in Hong Kong, going to Taiwan is just an 1.5-hour flight. I would get a late afternoon flight on Friday, arrive in Taiwan on Friday evening, the perfect time for a visit to the night markets, which are mostly food stalls. Oh, how I miss those tender, juicy, and perfectly fried salt and pepper chicken!

When you think of night markets in Taiwan, this salt and pepper chicken has to be one of the first foods that comes to mind. They are so tender and juicy, and also fried to perfection.

Being in the UK now means no quick flights, but guess what? I’ve unlocked the secrets to making this Taiwanese street food staple right at home, and it’s surprisingly easy, as long as you know the secrets to coating and frying the chicken.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, diced
Sweet potato flour or cornflour
Fresh basil leaves

Marinade

2 tablespoon light soy sauce
2 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 egg
¼ teaspoon Chinese five spice
½ teaspoon salt

Seasoning

2 tablespoons white pepper
2 tablespoons salt
½ teaspoon Chinese five spice
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Sweet Potato Flour

The most traditional flour for making this Taiwanese fried chicken is sweet potato flour, which has a coarser texture than cornflour or regular potato flour. Fried chicken coated in sweet potato flour will be crispy after frying, whereas other flour will make the chicken taste like battered chicken, lacking the thin and crisp texture of salt and pepper chicken.

I use it for tofu as well. Coat tofu slices or cubes in sweet potato flour then deep fry until golden. You’ll have the crispiest tofu in just a few minutes.

You will have to go to an Asian supermarket for this flour, or get it on Amazon.

Double Coating

Leave the chicken to stand for about 1-2 minutes between the first and second coating of flour, then leave to stand again for another 1-2 minutes. The dry flour will feel more sticky because of the moisture, this helps the flour to stay on the chicken and not fall off so easily during frying. The egg and the flour will also work together to seal in the moisture in the chicken so they stay tender after frying.

Double Frying

When you see these salt and pepper chicken in the Taiwanese night markets, they are usually semi-finished product that has been fried only once. When you order, the seller will fry the chicken again for a second time. This forces out the excess fat in the chicken and excess moisture on the surface so that it will be crispy and delicious.

Depending on what you’re cooking, the frying time will vary. But the general rule is, if altogether it takes 5 minutes to cook your food to perfection, split that into 4+1 minutes for the two rounds of frying. If it takes 10 minutes altogether, split that into 8+2 minutes.

Method

1. Mix together all the marinade ingredients, toss the diced chicken in the marinade, then add eggs and mix well.
2. Marinate the chicken in the fridge for at least 1 hour. The longer, the better. Marinade the day before if you can. 
3. First coating: Add the sweet potato flour to the marinated chicken and gently stir with your fingers so that each piece of chicken is evenly coated with the flour, leave to stand for 1-2 minutes.
4. Second coating: Coat the chicken with another thin coat of sweet potato flour to make the chicken even crispier after frying. Let it stand for 1-2 minutes until the coated chicken look moist.
5. Heat oil in the pan to about 130-140°C over medium heat. You can put a small piece of the flour mixture into the pan to test it. The flour will float right away and there will be tiny bubbles around it, meaning the chicken can go in.
6. First frying: Add the chicken into the pan and make sure they don’t stick together. Fry until they are light golden brown. Remove from oil and drain excess fat with a sieve.
7. Second frying: Heat the oil again to bring the temperature up to about 160°C. Put all the chicken pieces into the pan and fry them again for 1 minute. Remove. The colour will turn a deep golden yellow.
8. Frying the basil leaves. Basil leaves will turn black if fried too long, but don’t be tempted to take them out of the oil too quickly or they will taste quite oily. Fry them for about 20 seconds to slowly release the moisture in the basil and the sizzling sound should gradually slow down. Take them out now and the basil will be green, crispy yet not oily.
9. The seasoning: Mix together all the seasoning ingredients and sprinkle on the fried chicken after frying.

What do you think about this recipe? Share with me in the comments below 🙂

Janice xx

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