Prep time: 30 minutes - Overnight
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
5 lbs chicken thighs and legs
2 tbsp tumeric
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp cayenne pepper (more/less based on personal preference)
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp mushroom flavored soy sauce
6 cloves garlic finely minced
1 cup all purpose flour for dredging (I highly recommend King Arthur brand)
Freshly ground white pepper to taste (substitute black pepper if you don't have white)
This is the mushroom soy sauce and fish sauce I use. I got both of these at my local asian store. If you can't find mushroom soy sauce you can substitute regular soy sauce.
I like to use a really high quality chicken because you can't beat the flavor. I got these from Whole Foods. They're only a little bit more expensive for a lot more flavor. I think thighs and legs are always better than breasts because they're more flavorful. Also, they don't dry out as easily, and are harder to over cook.
Mix all the ingredients EXCEPT the chicken and flour in a big bowl to make a paste and THEN add the chicken. It makes it a lot easier to coat the chicken parts that way. I recommend letting it sit in the fridge covered overnight, but 30 minutes will do if you're in a pinch.
Pull the chicken out of the fridge and add the flour. If you need more than a cup add more. You can't have too much flour here.
Dredge each piece of chicken fully. When you're ready to fry the chicken preheat your favorite fryer to 360 degrees and drop in no more than 2-3 pieces per batch. This will keep the oil temperature from dropping too much.
Fry the chicken until it is cooked through. For medium size thighs that's usually between 10-12 minutes. For smaller legs it's less. (10 minutes per side if you're using a cast iron skillet)
This dish is very well complemented with my last recipe: Ginger Dipping Sauce. I also love having some sriracha, jao, and sweet chili sauce on the side. I'll try to post a recipe for jao and sweet chili sauce in the near future!
Happy Eating!
--Joe Kwon