Salt & Pepper Chicken

Crisp, juicy fried chicken pieces tossed with chilli, garlic and spring onion in a toasted pepper salt.

TIME BREAKDOWN
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 20 min
Total: 50 minutes
Vegetarian
❌
Nuts
❌
Serves
4 people
Difficulty
Medium

Ingredients

  • 700g boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 3cm pieces
  • For the marinade: 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
  • 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
  • 1 egg white
  • 100g potato starch or cornflour, for coating
  • Vegetable oil, for deep-frying (about 1 litre), plus 1 tbsp for stir-frying
  • For the pepper salt: 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
  • 1 tsp black peppercorns
  • 1 tsp flaky sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
  • 1/2 tsp caster sugar
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 red chillies, finely sliced
  • 2 green chillies, finely sliced
  • 4 spring onions, finely sliced

Method

  1. Mix the chicken with the marinade ingredients and leave for 20 minutes.

  2. Toast the Sichuan and black peppercorns in a dry pan for 1 minute until fragrant. Grind with the salt, then stir in the five-spice and sugar.

  3. Toss the marinated chicken in the potato starch, pressing it on so each piece is coated, and shake off the excess.

  4. Heat the oil for deep-frying in a deep, heavy-based pan to 170°C. Fry the chicken in 3 batches for 5 to 6 minutes until golden and cooked through. Drain on a wire rack.

  5. Increase the oil to 190°C and fry the chicken for another 1 minute until crisp. Drain.

  6. Heat the 1 tbsp oil in a wok over a high heat. Stir-fry the garlic, chillies and spring onions for 30 seconds.

  7. Add the chicken and pepper salt and toss for 30 seconds. Serve immediately with steamed rice.