Taiwanese Salt and Pepper Fried Chicken Gua Bao

Taiwanese Salt and Pepper Fried Chicken Gua Bao

Serves: 4-6 people
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes and 1 hour overnight for Marination
Taiwanese Salt and Pepper Fried Chicken Gua Bao

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs chicken boneless skinless thighs
  • 1 bag of sweet potato starch
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons xiaoxing cooking wine, mirin or sake
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 egg white
  • Handful of fresh basil
  • 2-3 cups of canola, vegetable oil or any oil with a high smoke point

Instructions

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Lovers of fried chicken get in here! Taiwanese salt and pepper fried chicken adds an exciting twist to regular chicken by making use of sweet potato starch to make the batter. They are super delicious, trust us on this. This recipe takes a couple of hours to put together and is perfect for lunch or dinner. Cut the small chicken thighs into twos and the large ones into thirds.

  1. In a large mixing bowl, place chicken and add cooking wine, soy sauce, flour, egg white, garlic, and salt. Mix well. Put in the refrigerator to marinate for 1 hour or overnight.
Making the Dough:
  1. First, add yeast in 1 ½ cups of warm water to activate. Place flour, baking powder, kosher salt, baking soda, and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Add the activated yeast and mix to form clumps. Use your hands to knead the dough until completely smooth. Cover and leave to rise for 1 hour.
Making the pickles and almond hoisin sauce:
  1. Cut the cucumber into thin slices by their width and place in a mixing bowl. Add the remaining pickle ingredients. Mix until well combined. Keep in the refrigerator.
  2. Proceed to make the almond hoisin sauce. Place all sauce ingredients in a medium bowl and mix until smooth and incorporated. Keep in the refrigerator.
Make wrappers:
  1. Sprinkle some flour on a work surface. Unfold plastic wrap and remove dough. Divide into two. Cover one half with plastic wrap, and then split the other half into two again.
  2. Roll both halves to make two thin cylinders, and then cut into 6 equal pieces.
  3. Place them side up and flatten with your palm to give a round shape. Sprinkle all sides with flour. Flatten with a rolling pin to make a ¼ inch thick oval shape.
  4. Fold each oval to resemble tacos. Set aside. Repeat procedure with marshmallow dough pieces till you’ve made a set of gua bao wrappers. Line a bamboo steamer with parchment paper.
  5. Place wrappers on it and then put on a shallow pot containing boiling water. Cook for 10 minutes on medium-high heat. Set aside.
Bread and fry chicken:
  1. Place sweet potato starch in a bowl and use to cover and bread each piece of your chicken.
  2. Place on a plate and set aside. Set a pot to high heat (about 350F) and add 2-3 cups of oil and some basil. Use a strainer to remove basil and reduce the heat to low-medium.
  3. Next, fry chicken in batches until slightly golden brown. Place on a tray with paper towels and set aside.
  4. Increase heat to medium-high. Put back the chicken and basil in the pot and flash fry until brown. Add paper towels to a bowl and place in it. Add little salt and pepper.
Assembly:
  1. Carefully unfold a wrapper and place fried chicken in it. Add slices of pickles and fresh cilantro.
  2. Drizzle almond hoisin sauce and top with some chopped nuts. Serve and enjoy.