lollipop chicken
3 min readWhenever we have family over for big dinners at our house, we do it buffet style: the table is extended to its biggest possible surface area, then absolutely crammed to the perimeter witha vibrant array of dishes. Along with Dad’s Sweet and Sour Pork (here), this super-cheow(crispy) and gum (golden)treat is always one of the first dishes to be polished off.
Serves 6 chicken wings, tips removed, separated into drumettes and flats (see tip overleaf) vegetable oil, for deep-frying salt, for sprinkling for the marinade 12 tsp salt 4% tsp light soy sauce 2 pinches ground white pepper 2 cloves garlic for the coating 80g cornflour 14 tsp chilli powder pinch sa 2 pinches white pepper for the dry-fry seasonings 2 tsp vegetable oil 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 tsp crushed Sichuan peppercorns or 1 tsp cracked black pepper 3 spring onions, sliced 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced 14 tsp salt The first step is to lollipop’ the chicken For the drumettes: hold on to the meaty end and use a sharp knife to carefully score the skin around the bone just above the nobbly joint at the narrow end.
Hold on to the nobbly joint with one hand and position the drumette at a 45 angle against the board. Insert the knife into the scored line and apply downward pressure to scrape the meat off the bone and towards the thicker end. Twist the bone around as you go to move the meat down to the bottom. Trim off any excess skin. For the flats: score the skin around the narrower end of the flat, then cut between the two bones to separate them. Hold one of the bones at a time and use the same method described above to scrape the meat towards the wider end of the flat, making sure to scrape between the two bones as well. Once all of the meat has moved to the bottom, remove one of the bones by holding it tightly, positioning the knife at the point where this bone is attached to the joint, and slicing through to release it.
2 Put the lollipops in a large bowl together with the marinade ingredients, then use your hands to massage the marinade into the chicken. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.
3 Fill a deep saucepan two-thirds with vegetable oil and put it over a medium-high heat. If you are using deep-fryer-, set the temperature to180c/350f. To test if the oil is hot enough, mix little cornflour with a little water and carefully drop it into the oil. It should fizz up, but not turn brown instantly. Mix the coating ingredients together in a large bowl. Working with one lollipop at a time, use your fingers to pat the coating generously all over the meat, avoiding the bone. Deep-fry the chicken in batches for 1 minute before transferring them to a wire rack. Return each bato oil for a further 3-4 minutes until they are golden brown and crisp. Drain on the wire rack for a few minutes.
4 Meanwhile, cook the dry-fry- seasonings.heat2 teaspoons vegetable oil in wok over medium heat,add the dry-fry seasonings and fry for about 15 seconds until fragrant. Add the fried lollipops then stir-fry quickly for a minute to coat the chicken with the seasoned oil (don’t worry if the bits don’t stick to the chicken). To serve, sprinkle extra salt on top.
The ‘drumette’ is the first section of the chicken wing between the shoulder and elbow while the flat’ is the section between the elbow and the tip.
