Chicken – Page 3 – Grow. Cook. Eat.

March 5, 2009

Gratitude: Coq au Vin

Last week, when I arrived on Brett’s farm for a visit, he announced I was just in time for a chicken matanza. Brett had decided to reduce his flock of egg-layers to a few dozen instead of a few hundred. The labor involved in raising chickens had become too burdensome, and he preferred to focus his energies on growing organic vegetables and selling them through his CSA. The few dozen remaining hens would continue to provide eggs for the family’s consumption and a repository for the non-salable produce.

Let’s be honest, killing, feathering and gutting chickens are not most people’s idea of a good time – including mine and Brett’s. But we accept this ugly truth as part of eating meat. We comfort ourselves knowing that the chickens had a good life, living in expansive coops with easy access to outdoor space – and maintaining good health from eating well, drinking clean water and breathing fresh air. And Brett shows a modicum of pride in taking the good with the bad – if he wants to enjoy humanely raised meat, then there’s a price to pay. In his case, it’s killing animals. While most people try to gloss over this fact, he accepts it as part of the process and shows gratitude to his animals for what they provide.

In Brett’s words:

All of our birds range freely on large pastures, fenced to keep the birds out of the vegetables and most predators out of the birds. Throughout their lives our animals are treated with compassion, dignity, and humanity. Our chickens eat grasses, clovers, bugs, and bushels of greens, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, melons, and other veggies that are too blemished to sell. As we cannot get organic corn in our area, we give the birds a very high-quality vegetarian grain mix (never with hormones, medications, or animal byproducts) specially formulated by us in partnership with our local Mennonite feed mill. Our birds are therefore not classed as organic—just very free range, very happy, very active, and very healthy.

Free-roaming animals, like the chickens on the farm, develop more muscles and stronger bones. This yields more flavorful meat, but also tougher. Fryer chickens typically meet their ~~maker~~ chef at 6 weeks, so even a free-roaming bird will still be reasonably tender. By contrast, the chickens from last week’s matanza are extra tough because they’re much older than the traditional fryer chicken: averaging 3 years.

With meat this tough, they demand a long braise to tenderize the meat. This weekend I cooked a coq au vin with one of the hens from last week’s matanza. It simmered for 5 hours, far longer than a conventional chicken recipe would suggest – or as Madeleine Kamman recommends in her recipe: 45 minutes.

Coq au Vin
(serves 4 guests)

1 old stewing hen, cut into quarters
1/4 cup flour
3 slices smoked bacon
3 tablespoons butter
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 large shallot, peeled and chopped.
1 celery rib, chopped
1/4 cup garlic cloves
1/4 lb. mushrooms, quartered
1 cup chicken broth
1 – 10 oz. can tomatoes
1 bottle red wine
1/2 cup brandy
2 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs parsley
salt and pepper to taste

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dust with flour. Dice bacon, and put in a large skillet with high sides. Brown bacon over high heat. Remove bacon and set aside

2. Add butter to bacon fat pan and brown the chicken (on high heat) for about 4 minutes on each side. Add onions, shallots, carrot, celery, and cook for about 5 minutes more.

3. Turn heat off, and deglaze pan with brandy and red wine. Scrap all of the browned bits off the bottom, this is good stuff. Add chicken stock, thyme and parsley. Turn heat back to high, and bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, [if using commercial chicken add mushrooms here]. Cover pot and put in 325 oven. After about 1 1/2 hours, add mushrooms. Cook covered for another hour or three or until meat is tender. My chicken took 5 hours.

4. Serve chicken over potato puree or with grilled bread.

February 20, 2009

Jute Leaves: Moloukia

My college apartment was down the street from a Lebanese deli. Instead of eating in the campus cafeteria, I’d head over to the deli to satiate my cravings for falafel and hummus. Having spent much of my youth eating in the Israeli and Arab restaurants of Jerusalem, this was my comfort food. After many visits, I became friendly with the owner and he steered me towards the daily specials – each day his wife would make a traditional, home-style dish for lunch. Sometimes it was a lamb dish scented with cinnamon, others it was fish, but my favorite was “Molokhia” — chicken simmered with a leafy green vegetable served over rice-noodle pilaf and topped with toasted pita.

I never saw this dish in another restaurant again, so began a quest to recreate it. Every time I met a Lebanese, I would interrogate him to figure out what this dish really was and find out how to make it. Finally, I was able to find a good recipe and a source for the distinctive “Moloukhia” leaves.

Moloukhia are the leaves from a variety of the jute plant. They have a unique texture that some describe as a cross between okra and spinach. Other descriptions include, “slippery” and “gelatinous.” The nutritious leaves thicken the chicken broth and give a rich flavor to the stew. A heavy dose of lemon juice at the end balances the creaminess. It’s an unusual flavor, but highly addictive.

This dish originates from Egypt, but has spread across the Middle East. Spellings can vary, including moloukhi, molokhya and moolkhia, as can its botanical name: jew's mallow, nalta jute, tussa jute, corchorus olitorius. Fresh molokhi is not available in the U.S. but can be purchased dried or frozen in most Arab Markets.

To coax out the best flavor from the stew, it needs at least 30 minutes of simmering. Unfortunately, the long simmer does not bode well for a bright green dish. When prepared with rabbit, it’s fit for a Pharaoh.

Molokhia
1 lb. chicken or rabbit meat
1 large onion, chopped
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 cups chicken broth or water
4 tbs. butter
3 cups dried moloukhia leaves or 10 oz. frozen
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
1 tbs. coriander

Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a large skillet or pot, combine chicken, onion and broth. Bring to a boil over high heat and reduce to simmer. Let simmer while preparing the next steps.

In a small skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Saute crushed garlic with coriander for 2-3 minutes until garlic starts to soften and the coriander becomes aromatic. Take some of the liquid from the chicken to deglaze this pan and add to above.

If using dried leaves, melt remaining butter over medium heat. Stir leaves for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and crush. Add leaves to the simmering pot. Continue simmering for 30 minutes. Total cooking time should be about 45 minutes. If using frozen leaves, simply add to the chicken pot with remaining butter. Cook for 15 – 20 minutes.

Just before serving, stir in lemon juice. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over rice pilaf, or rice mixed with pilaf noodles

January 30, 2009

Peachy Mama Winners and Winter Greens

And the winners of the celebration/Peachy Mama Giveaway are: White on Rice Couple, Sandie of Inn Cuisine And micaela6955/Michele P. Please email me your mailing address to [julia] at [growcookeat] dot [com]. I look forward to hearing about your peachy mama creations!
______________________________________
During the cold of January, a visit to a produce farm might seem bleak. In Southern Maryland, home to my friend Brett’s Even’ Star Organic Farm, temperatures linger around freezing. With gray skies, and the occasional appearance of the sun so low in the sky, sometimes it feels like it is always gloomy.

Despite seemingly harsh conditions, the farm is still in full production. Two green houses in the south field produce 30 cases of mesclun a week. The chickens continue to lay eggs, albeit at a slower pace. And the frost-bitten fields are lined with winter-tolerant greens: kales, mustards, collards and other brassicas. The field greens have superior flavor and texture to their greenhouse counterparts. When overnight temperatures drop below freezing, the leaves get frost bitten, which actually sweetens the flavor, leaving a gold-leaf edge. The winds and cold rains produce a leaf that his structure and texture. The combination of the conditions yields a mesclun mix in which each leaf has a distinct flavor and texture. As the leaves get bigger, they get tougher and make perfect braising greens.

Harvesting lettuce in the winter is not particularly fun – hunched over the fields with cold fingers, but the rewards are sweet. When the temperatures rise above 32F, the leaves thaw, and with a hit of sunshine, the excess moisture evaporates and the leaves rebound. Each leaf is harvested individually, taking care not to damage the plant. The smaller leaves will continue to grow.

The peppery greens make a wonderful salad or stuffing for roasted chicken.

Chicken Stuffed with Peppery Greens and Raisins

2 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 1/2 tsp. curry powder
1/2 cup raisins
1 bunch mustard greens, washed and coarsely chopped

4 boneless chicken breasts, skin on
1 teaspoon canola/plain oil
salt and pepper to taste.

1. Melt butter in sauté pan. Add garlic. Cook for 2 minutes over medium heat, and add the curry powder. Cook for 2 more minutes and add the raisins.

2. Add the mustard greens. And cook until they wilt. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Cool before using stuffing.

4. To form pockets for stuffing., gently separate the skin from the meat from only one long edge (leaving the skin still attached on the other half of the breast). Fill the pocket with the stuffing and smooth the skin back over

5. Turn the oven on to broil. Brush the skin with a little oil and season with salt and pepper.

6. Put chicken under the broiler until the skin begins to crisp, about 7 minutes. Switch the oven to bake/ 350, and continue cooking the chicken for 10 minutes or until cooked through.

January 27, 2009

Larp of Chiang Mai: Thai Chicken Salad

Every once in a while it happens – you make a great sauce, for a pasta or chicken dish, and invariably it’s too thin, and falls to the bottom of the plate. As you’re eating, you assertively drag the noodles through the sauce, hoping to pull up the yummy flavors. Unless you’re eating with a spoon, it can be a near impossible feat.

Every culture has its tricks. The French have resolved this issue by reducing their stock-based sauces so that they are thick and rich with gelatin. The Chinese use various forms of starch, including corn starch and tapioca flour, to act as an adhesive. And with each technique comes a unique “mouth feel.”

The Thai have an ingenious method: ground, roasted rice. The rice absorbs all the flavors in the dressing and then clings like super-glue onto the food. The rice offers a crunchy texture and slightly nutty flavor. Roasted rice takes about five minutes to make and can be stored for a month wrapped tightly in the cupboard.

Roasted Rice Flour
In a small skillet, over medium heat, add ½ cup of raw jasmine rice. Cook stirring constantly until the grains are lightly golden brown. Immediately remove from heat and out of the pan. When the rice cools, grind to a coarse powder in a spice grinder. For tips on cleaning your coffee bean grinder to use, click here.

Now that you have roasted, ground rice, you can make this unusual Thai Chicken Salad. It’s naturally low in fat and high in flavor.

Larp of Chiang Mai
1 lb. chicken breast
1 stalk lemongrass, minced
3 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
4 red chilies, finely chopped (seeded if you’d like)
4 tbs. lime juice
2 tbs. fish sauce
1tbs. roasted ground rice
2 scallions, chopped
2 tbs. cilantro, chopped
1 tsp. sugar
Mesclun Greens
salt and pepper to taste

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a cold sauté pan, put chicken and a ½ cup of water. Turn on heat to medium. Add chicken and cook for 5 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Remove from heat and let cool. Dice chicken.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine chicken and remaining ingredients, except mesclun. Mix thoroughly.

3. Serve salad on a bed of mesclun.

January 25, 2009

Chicken Kiev via Bali

Ten years ago I traveled to Asia for the first time. I chose Bali because I heard wonderful things about the rustic beauty and the people. I knew nothing of the cuisine, but eagerly ate everything and took copious notes. On my first evening, after a 24 hour flight, I made my first foray in Balinese cuisine. This is what I wrote in my journal:

Fish shacks line the beach. You can pick your own fish: barracuda, squid, white snapper, red snapper, orange roughy, spiny lobster and head-on shrimp. They are grilled over a fire built with coconut shells with a spicy barbecue sauce, and served with steamed rice, vegetables (cooked with more chili sauce) and 3 sauces: soy sauce thickened with molasses, chili-garlic oil and garlic vinegar. The tables were on the beach overlooking the water. We had lobster, barracuda and squid. $30 USD.

It turns out that this feast for two which included plenty of beer was the most expensive meal.

When cleaning out my desk the other night, I came across notes from another spectacular meal… scribbled on the back of the program from a Balinese dance.

Ayam Goreng “Satika” – Fried Chicken with Sambal Matah (onions, chili, lemon grass, and lime). Chicken is stuffed and then fried.

It would seem from these notes that I would want to recreate this meal, but it took me 10 years…. By now, I have no idea was it tasted or looked like. So I had to improvise. This is what I came up with:

Ayam Goreng Satika

2 chicken breasts, butterflied.
1 shallot, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 stalk lemon grass, trimmed and finely chopped
1 bird’s eye chili, finely chopped
¼ tsp. sugar
½ lime, juiced
½ cup flour
1 egg, whisked with 2 tablespoons water
1 cup panko bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Plain oil
2 tablespoons butter

1. Heat 1 tablespoon plain oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add shallots, garlic, lemon grass, and chili. Sauté until soft.

2. Season chicken with salt pepper and sugar. Fill with each breast with half of the shallot/chili mix and butter. Squeeze lime juice over the chicken. Fold over.

3. Bread the chicken: First dust in flour. Then dip in eggs. Finally, coat in panko crumbs.

4. Heat a large skillet over high flame. Add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Add chicken. Cook until brown on both sides. Continue cooking in a 350F oven until chicken is cooked through.

Serve with green beans — visit the Perfect Pantry for the recipe.

September 20, 2008

And the Winner Is…..

*******Drum Roll, please!******

Paul Sussman's Buttermilk Fried Chicken!

*******applause, applause applause****

Please welcome Chef Paul as he shares with us his recipe:

Ingredients:

1 small chicken (I like small chickens, around 3 pounds, what used to be called “fryers”, rather than “broilers” which weigh in at 4 to 5 pounds because when frying chicken the challenge is to cooking the pieces through before over- browning the batter.
1 cup of cultured buttermilk
1 tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground, toasted cumin
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
a few drops of Tabasco
Flour (preferably non-bleached white) (finely ground corn flour can be mixed in, or even substituted entirely)
Oil for frying

Cut the chicken up into 10 pieces as follows: Remove the backbone and use it, with the heart and gizzard to make stock. Fry up the liver and eat it, well salted and smushed on crackers for a snack. Cut the wings off, cut the legs off, split the legs into thighs and drumsticks and then split the breasts in half. The breast splitting is optional, but remember that smaller pieces fry better and everyone wants a breast, so we now have 4 instead of 2. Remove the skin from all but the wings.

Combine the buttermilk, salt, pepper, cumin, leaves of thyme stripped of the sprigs and Tabasco. Add the chicken, mixing well, and refrigerate for several hours, up to 24.

Drain the chicken, retaining the marinade. Put some flour in a bowl, put the reserved marinade in a bowl next to it. Dredge each piece of chicken in the flour, shake off the excess, dunk into the buttermilk, then back into the flour and arrange them on a sheet pan with enough room to keep them from touching. Put them in the refrigerator for 15 minutes (this allows the flour to absorb all the liquid making a batter.)

Heat ½ inch of oil in a heavy skillet to 350 to 375 degrees. If you don’t have a thermometer, or are too lazy to use one like me, the oil is at the right temperature when a few drops of water flicked into the oil sizzles (hot enough) but doesn’t explode (too hot).
Lay the chicken pieces into the pan without crowding, let them set for a minute then move them around a bit by sliding a metal spatula under beach to make sure it is not sticking.

Now, the hard part is keeping the temperature right. The cold chicken will reduce the temperature of the oil, so you might want to raise the flame when you first put the pieces in, but beware of leaving it too high. In other words, you must watch and adjust accordingly, to keep things sizzling, but not burning, turning the pieces when they need to but not too often so the batter has time to set.

When done remove the pieces onto something absorbent. (“When done”? How do I know when, you ask? And I answer, as all chefs do: “well… you just know”)

September 15, 2008

Chicken Ragu and Chick Pea Pasta

I’m not sure I fully understand, but I always love a party! Psychgrad over at Equal Opportunity Kitchen is hosting “Presto Pasta Night.” Presto Pasta Nights is a blog that features all forms of the beloved noodle – fresh, dried, wheat, rice, if it’s a pasta…. Ruth writes about it. And every week there’s a round-up of what other people are making. It’s a great inspiration if you’re looking for new recipes for pasta.

Sage continues to proliferate in my garden. I have so much that I’m on the verge of knocking on restaurant kitchen doors to see if I can sell them some. I donated one gallon of leaves to the Locavore Banquet (that’s part of the Energy Smackdown) and still the plants look as lush as ever. I could make a pasta with fried sage and parmesan, but that just doesn’t seem festive enough for a party… especially since I’ve seen the way Psychgrad throws a party. Instead, I opt for Chicken Ragu with Chick-Pea Papardelle. The chicken is seasoned with sage, tomatoes and cinnamon. The pasta dough is made with a blend of all-purpose flour and chickpea flour.

Chicken Ragu with Chick-Pea Papardelle

¼ cup olive oil
¾ cup diced onion
¾ cup diced celery
¼ pound bacon, diced
¼ cup flour
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. black pepper
4 – 5 chicken thighs
1 cup dry white wine
2 cup chicken stock
1 cup water
2 tomatoes, diced
1 tbs. fresh sage, chopped
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ pound grated Pecorino romano or parmigiano reggiano.
1 tbs. fresh chopped parsley

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper, dust with flour.

2. Heat a large skillet, add oil, and then the vegetable. Cook for a few minutes, or until soft. Add the bacon and continue cooking until bacon renders its fat.

3. Remove the vegetable, and set aside. Turn the heat to high and add the chicken. Brown on both sides.

4. Deglaze the pan with white wine. Add the vegetables back to the pan, along with the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the Pecorino and parsley. Cook covered for about 20 minutes, or until the meat is tender.

5. Shred the meat and continue cooking, uncovered until the sauce is reduced and thick

6. Serve with Pasta. Sprinkle cheese and parsley on top.

Chick Pea Pasta Dough
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus ¼ cup for dusting
½ cup chick pea flour
2 -3 large eggs as needed
1 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. salt

1. Sift flours onto a clean counter. Make a well in the flour, and add the eggs, olive oil and the salt.

2. Beat the eggs with a fork, gradually bringing in the flour from the sides of the well, until the paste has thickened enough so the liquid will not run onto the counter. Switch from a fork to a pastry cutter. Bring all the flour into the already wet part and cut through the dough several times until it is evenly moistened. Start kneading with your hands until the dough forms a ball and looks homogenized, about 8 minutes.

3. If the dough becomes stiff, and refuses to bend, rub in a little of the remaining egg. If the dough becomes too moist, add a bit of the flour.
Work the dough by machine:

4. Divide the dough into 3 balls, and let rest under a damp towel for 20 minutes. (This is a good time to make the rest of the recipe). Start working the dough through the pasta machine starting with the widest setting. After running it through the machine, fold it into thirds, and run it through again. When the dough is smooth, run the dough through the machine through successively smaller settings. The dough will stretch out, and be rolled very thin.

5. When you have achieved thin sheets, you can let the dough rest for a few minutes before filling or cutting.

6. Cook in a pot of salted, boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and toss with sauce.

Thanks to David for taking pictures!

August 29, 2008

Beer Can Chicken

Last week Dina called to say she was having a few people over for dinner and had bought 2 whole chickens to roast. I’m not sure how I got to be so bold, but I suggested she make Beer Can Chicken. Great, she said, as long as you’re the one to do it. Not sure how my day would progress, I tentatively agreed.
I don’t typically buy beer at Whole Foods (much less any beer), but I was there for other things so I thought I’d just buy it there. I was perusing the beer case, when a “team member” offered assistance in my search.

“I’m looking for a beer to make beer can chicken with,” I said.

“What???” he replied.

“You’ve never heard of beer-can chicken??” I asked stunned.

“Nope, what is it?”

“It’s when you stick a can of beer up the chicken’s bum and cook it on the grill,” I answered.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

We settled on Narragansett Bay. The cans were a bit tall, but the flavor profile was just right for such a dish.

Back at Dina’s house, dinner preparations were a bit harried. I didn’t arrive until 6:30 and guests were expected at 7:30. The chickens were still in their packages. No time for any sort of marinade or brine. So I pulled the skin away from the meat and rubbed salt and butter on the meat.

I smoothed the skin back over.
Half way through the cooking, we took the chickens off the grill, put some wood chips on the embers, and finished the chickens with a little smoke.

July 25, 2008

My Ten Favorite Dishes: #5: Guilty Pleasures

We all have our guilty pleasures…. The little indulgences that we know aren’t good for us, and perhaps don’t even fit our personality or lifestyle. I’m not embarrassed to share mine – as a self professed foodie and gourmand, I’ll admit mine in is Popeyes Fried Chicken . I’m “guilty” because I know how bad it is for me. It’s guilty because their chickens, despite proclamations on their website, probably live a life similar to those of I saw on the Perdue chicken truck. Guilt aside, I’m like Pavlov’s dog when I smell that distinctive greasy, salty aroma.

Growing up in Washington DC, with a soul-full, southern culture, Popeyes are as popular as any other fast food chains. I first experienced the crispy, seasoned-to-the-bone chicken when I was 16. The biscuits are buttery and light, and the red beans and rice has a smoky hint of ham hocks. Over the years, I’ve eaten fried chicken all over the south, and so far nothing has come close.

I moved into my first apartment in Boston because of its proximity to Popeyes. Alas, the last Popeye’s closed in Boston in 1995 and did not return until last year. Great fan fare preceded the opening with buzz on Chowhound – a decidedly foodie website. Apparently, I’m not alone in this guilty pleasure. True vindication came when The Boston Globe reviewed it… the first ever review of a fast food chain.

Popeyes reached a new level of refinement when Popeyes’ twitter recommended the best wine pairing was with a $45 bottle – Cakebread Chardonnay. Up until this point, I had always stuck with 7-Up. Not surprising, though, the best wine with Popeyes, according to a recent blind tasting, was a $5 bottle. You can read all about the Popeyes Wine Tasting here. What’s your favorite beverage to pair with Popeyes?

As if I need an excuse to eat Popeyes, it’s right next to Fenway Park! And what’s more American than Baseball and… Fried Chicken.

July 23, 2008

General Gau’s Chicken: The Man Behind the Myth

Jennifer 8. Lee, author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
describes Chinese Cuisine in America as “the biggest culinary joke played by one culture on another.” General Gau’s chicken tops that list in that it appears on nearly every Chinese menu in the US as a chef specialty. While the General was real – a soldier from the Hunan region in China – his chicken is wholly an American invention.

The dish varies from restaurant to restaurant, but the theme is consistent: crispy fried chunks of chicken tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce. Despite its inauthentic origins, it’s still a personal favorite.

My favorite Chinese cookbook, The Chinese Kitchen by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo features a recipe that continues to receive rave reviews from my dinner guests. The sauce is nicely balanced, not overly sweet, and fragrant with ginger and chilies. My continual challenge – which most restaurants mastered – is frying the chicken nuggets so they stay crunchy after they’ve been tossed in the sauce. The chicken, marinated in egg and corn starch, is dusted with more corn starch just before frying. I’ve experimented with the oil temperature, twice frying and even trying to caramelize the sauce, to no avail.

When I was in China a few years ago on a summer internship from business school, I broke away on several occasions to take cooking lessons. The top technique on my list was learning how to get the crispy chicken nuggets even after they were tossed in sauce. My cooking instructor in Beijing happily obliged me.

The first secret is in the corn starch. He used “wet” corn starch. To make wet corn starch: combine ½ cup of corn starch with enough water to make a slurry, about ½ cup. Let the mix sit for at least ½ hour until the water and starch separate. Pour off all the excess water. What you’re left with is the wet corn starch. It’s slightly chalky, but dissolves into liquid when you run your fingers through it. It is this mixture that he tossed the chicken cubes in before frying.

The second secret, which really isn’t as critical as the first, is in cooking the sauce. The sauce must be reduced until almost all the water has evaporated. It is then reconstituted with a little oil.

General Gau's Chicken

adapted from Eileen Yen-Fei Lo

4 chicken thighs, cut into cubes
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tbs dry corn starch
2 ½ tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons Shao-Hsing Wine
½ cup wet corn starch
3 cups plain oil
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
8 small dried chilies
1 bunch scallions, cut into rings.

Marinate chicken with salt, egg and corn starch for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the sauce by combining the soy sauce, hoisin, sugar, vinegar and wine.

In a large pot, heat the oil to 350F. Toss the chicken in the wet corn starch and then add to the hot oil. Cook until crispy, about 5 minutes.

While the chicken is frying, heat a large skillet over high heat. Add 1 tbs. of frying oil to the pan. Add ginger, garlic, scallions and chilies and cook until aromatic.

When chicken is crispy drain and add to ginger mix. Pour in sauce and reduce.

Serve over rice with steamed broccoli.