Revolutionary New Deep-Fried Chicken Coating
Author: Whats4Chow
Recipe type: Poultry / Chicken
Cuisine: South African
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Today we’re going to take a look at a revolutionary new coating method I have developed to make crispy deep-fried chicken. Although I have used chicken strips in the demonstration, this will work just as well with chicken pieces. The process is quicker and cleaner than regular coating methods. Towards the end of the demo, I will give you a couple of tips and tricks to ensure superior results every time.
Ingredients
- 600g Chicken breast fillets
- 60ml Light soy sauce
- 2 Large eggs
- 120ml Cornstarch (1/2 cup)
- 1/24 tsp Xanthan gum
- 2 Cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tbs white pepper
- Oil for frying
Instructions
- To start, cut your chicken breast fillets into strips of 8mm thick and put these aside. You can also use the fillet’ from the breasts as well.
- For the pre-coating, measure the cornstarch and light soy sauce into a jug and add 2 eggs.
- Use a whisk to combine these until smooth. It will be a bit difficult at first, but as the cornstarch loosens up it will get easier. Blend until smooth.
- Transfer this mixture to a tall jug for blending. Add a third of a ⅛th teaspoon of xanthan gum to the mixture and shear this into the mixture using your stick blender. You can also do this in a regular stand blender. This step cannot be done by hand as the xanthum gum will not emulsify properly.
- The result will be a glossy, light brown syrupy liquid. Add the chicken strips to the mixture, mix them in and put this aside.
- Place 2 cups of all-purpose flour in a food grade plastic container and mix in a tablespoonful white pepper.
- Add a few strips of the chicken to the flour, put the lid on and shake from side to side to coat the chicken. Remove the lid and add a few more strips and continue this process until all of the chicken is in the flour, and nicely coated.
- Heat your oil to 150c or 302f. We are using a slightly lower temperature than normal to ensure that the coating does not over-brown before the chicken is cooked through.
- Fry the chicken in batches until lightly golden, about 3-4 minutes per batch and you’re done.
And now for the tips and tricks…
- You can scale this recipe up to any size, and you are only limited by the size of your blender and plastic shaking container.
- When you have sheared the xanthan gum into the mixture, make sure you have a syrup-like texture that coats the chicken well. If not, add a tiny bit more xanthan gum and shear this in to get the desired consistency. However, do not overdose the xanthan gum as this will lead to a mucus-like consistency which is not your goal.
- Allow the oil to return to 150c for each batch you fry in order to achieve a consistent result from batch to batch.
- Use a good quality light soy sauce like Kikkoman or Lee Kum Kee for the best results. An inferior soy sauce will give an inferior result, while dark soy sauce will simply not be suitable.
- It is not necessary to add salt to the pre-coating or the flour. There is more than enough seasoning in the soy sauce.
