Crispy Chicken Recipe Sandwich Wings Costoletta Salad Burger Chinese Crispers Chili's Strips Photos: Crispy Chicken Batter Crispy Chicken Recipe Sandwich Wings Costoletta Salad Burger Chinese Crispers Chili's Strips Photos

Tuesday, 17 February 2015

Crispy Chicken Batter Crispy Chicken Recipe Sandwich Wings Costoletta Salad Burger Chinese Crispers Chili's Strips Photos

Crispy Chicken Batter Biography

source (google.com.pk)

I love Chinese food, both the American and authentic variety. Unfortunately, what I don’t love about it is mystery meat, extreme sugar contents, MSG and tendency to use peanut oil. As a transplanted American in Canada, I’m also kind of put off by these giant orbs of dough that they call “sweet & sour” chicken and serve with a sauce so neon red I’m afraid to turn off the lights because I might discover that it glows in the dark.

So Chinese food has largely disappeared from my diet. Every now and again, though, I find myself really Jonesing for some, and so my control-freak self learned how to make my own. No peanuts, no dairy, no preservatives, no MSG, no toxic substances, no GMOs, no questions about whether the neighborhood cat is missing.

It can be a bit time intensive, but there are some significant upsides to making your own fry batter (besides, of course, knowing exactly what’s in it!). One is the power of the knowledge that with a single fry batter and even a single meat inside of it you can produce a multitude of different “dishes” just by soaking it in a different sauce. Use this trick to amaze your friends for dinner! They don’t have to know that the only difference between the lemon chicken, General Tso’s chicken, and the sweet and sour chicken is what has been put on top. :) The other is that Chinese cuisine lends itself extremely well to dietary restrictions.

So here is my two favourite fry batter recipes. One produces a thin crispy batter good for the likes of General Tso’s chicken and similar dishes, and it just happens to have the added benefit of being naturally gluten-free. The other produces a rounder, puffy crisp of batter that is typical of state-side sweet and sour chicken or pork.

Sweet & Sour batterSweet & Sour Batter (Egg free)

Makes batter for about 1.5 LBs of meat (~4-5 chicken breasts)

    1/2 cup all purpose flour
    1/2 cup cornstarch
    1 tsp baking soda
    1 tsp baking powder
    1/2 tsp salt
    1/4 tsp white pepper (black pepper works too, but it’ll be visible)
    1 tsp golden sugar
    1/2 cup + 2.5 tbsp water
    1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
    1 litre of cooking oil (I like to use pure, light olive oil, but you can use any oil and optionally add a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil to it if you want.)
    1.5 lbs of cubed raw pork loin or boneless chicken breast or thighs

Heat your cooking oil to a temperature of 375F.

Mix all the other ingredients in a medium size bowl. Add your cubed meat, and toss to coat well using some tongs.
Sweet and & sour chicken pork batter

Pork being coated in the Sweet & Sour batter

Drop battered meat into the hot oil 1-2 pieces at a time and fry in batches for 4-5 minutes, or until a deep golden brown and cooked through. Break up pieces that stick together as soon as possible. Drain on paper towels.
Sweet and & Sour fry batter pork chicken

Sweet & Sour pork during the fry… almost brown enough!

Protip: As much of a pain in the butt it is to drop the meat into the oil one at a time, stay the course. If you drop a bunch of meat in at once, they will all stick together, cooking improperly and ruining your nice batter. It’ll also drop the temperature of your oil, which will make the batter a lot greasier.
Sweet and & Sour chicken pork

Ready for the Sweet & Sour sauce!

See my recipe for sweet & sour sauce.

Cornstarch batter chinese food General Tso's chicken GF gluten FreeCornstarch batter (Gluten Free)

Makes batter for approximately 1.5 lbs of meat (or ~4-5 chicken breasts)

This one’s actually my favourite batter… I use it all the time to make General Tso’s chicken, which is both elegant enough for a dinner party and one of my favourite dishes in its own right. My son likes to call it “Kung Pow” chicken and eat it like popcorn pieces. You may opt to use the two-stage fry method with this one for a golden crust that will hold up under the pressure of a sauce.

    1 egg
    1.5 lbs pork loin or boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs, cubed
    1 tsp salt
    1 tsp golden sugar
    1 pinch white pepper
    1 – 1.5 cups of cornstarch
    1 litre of cooking oil (I like to use pure, light olive oil, but you can use any oil and optionally add a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil to it if you want.)

Heat your cooking oil in a large pot to 375F.
In a medium-sized bowl, beat the egg and mix in the cubed meat. Sprinkle with the salt, sugar, and pepper, and stir well. Slowly add the cornstarch, stirring, until the meat is coated well but not extremely powdery (see below).
Cornstarch batter with chicken

Battered chicken ready to fry
When the oil has reached cooking temperature, drop the pieces of meat in ones and twos into the oil. Fry in small batches (up to about a cup at a time) and drain on paper towels for about 3 minutes each until golden. If you wish to fry twice, keep the batches separated slightly, and re-fry one batch at a time, beginning with the first batch, for another 2-3 minutes until a deep golden brown.
Cornstarch batter fried chicken once and twice fried

Chicken twice fried (Left) and single fried (right)

Crispy Chicken Batter