Sichuan Popcorn Chicken
Sichuan Popcorn Chicken, A simple juicy Taiwanese fried chicken but with a Ma La Spicy Twist.
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 1.5 lb Chicken Thighs (Cubed)
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Garlic (Grated)
- 1.5 Tsp Sugar
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 1.5 Tsp Chili Pepper flakes
- 1 Tsp White Pepper
- 1.5 Tsp Sichuan Pepper Powder
- 1.5 C Tapioca Flour
- 1.5 Tbsp Water
Chili Powder Mix for Tossing
- 1 Tsp Chili Pepper Flakes
- 1 Tsp Sichuan Pepper Powder
- Pinch Salt
Instructions
Procedure:
- Marinate cubed chicken thighs in soy sauce, garlic, sugar, salt, chili pepper, Sichuan pepper, and white pepper for at least one hour
- Drizzle water in tapioca flour to make little tapioca pearls. You may need to break up the clumps of tapioca flour into smaller pearls. Coat chicken thighs in the tapioca flour, and pack in the tiny pearls
- In 375 F oil, or when a wooden chopstick bubbles in the hot oil, fry the coated chicken for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown. Optional, you may want to let the chicken drain of oil and cool down for 10 minutes and then fry again for 5 minutes until super crispy and golden brown to get that extra crunch. You can make more tapioca pearls and fry for about 1 minute.
- After the chicken has finished frying, drain it of oil, and toss in the chili mix and eat.
Video
Notes
Instead of Tapioca Flour, you can use cassava flour or arrowroot flour, although the outcomes may not be the same
You may need to add more water into the tapioca flour to make more pearls, and to also mix the flour a little while dribbling water to distribute the tapioca pearls.
The white balls shown in the picture are the deep fried tapioca pearls, they only take about 1 minute to deep fry.
Optional, you may want to let the chicken drain of oil and cool down for 10 minutes and then fry again for 5 minutes until super crispy and golden brown to get that extra crunch.