Salt and Pepper Chicken-style crispy spiced chicken

Ingredients

Spice salt

• 2 tbsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns (or 1 tsp white pepper)
• ½ tsp MSG (optional, but proper)

Chicken

• 600 g chicken thigh fillets, cut into 3 cm chunks
• 2 egg whites
• 4 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Oil for deep frying

To finish

• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 3 red chillies, sliced
• 4 spring onions, sliced into 5 cm lengths
• 1 red pepper, sliced

Method

1. Spice salt. Toast salt + peppercorns in a dry pan over medium for 1 minute. Crush in a mortar.
2. Coat. Mix chicken with egg whites, then cornflour + baking powder.
3. Fry. Heat oil to 170°C. Fry chicken in batches, 4 minutes until golden and cooked. Drain.
4. Re-fry. Crank oil to 185°C. Refry 60 seconds for extra crisp. Drain.
5. Aromatics. Wok on high. Add a tbsp of fresh oil. Garlic, chillies, pepper, 20 seconds.
6. Combine. Add chicken, spring onion. Toss 30 seconds.
7. Season. Sprinkle liberally with spice salt. Toss to coat. Serve hot.

Tips

• Toast the salt + Sichuan pepper first. 30 seconds in a dry pan. Game changer.
• Cornflour + baking powder on the chicken. Extra shatter.
• Don’t crowd the wok when tossing. Keep it crispy.