Home Dishes

Hat Yai Style Thai Fried Chicken - The World's Food

The World's Food

Yield: 4

Time: 24 hours, largely unattended

The crispiest sweet and savory fried chicken with garlic, cilantro and Thai soy sauce, serve with sweet chili sauce and sticky rice

Ingredients

2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken legs, wings and/or thighs. If you prefer chicken nuggets, cut 2 skin-on chicken breasts into 1 1/2 inch cubes

3/4 teaspoon white or black whole peppercorns

5 cloves garlic

10 cilantro stems with leaves removed

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 tablespoons Thai soy sauce (Thai mushroom soy sauce or Thai black soy sauce)

1/2 cup water

1 cup rice flour

1/2 gallon cooking oil, or as needed. I use peanut oil

1/2 cup sweet chili sauce

Preparation

Day 1: Step 1
Using a mortar and pestle, pound peppercorns, garlic and cilantro stems into a paste

Step 2
Add sugar and mix until incorporated

Step 3
Add fish sauce, soy sauce and water to the mortar and stir, then pour into a zip-top bag

Step 4
Prep chicken legs by cutting the thickest parts of the meat about ½ inch (1 cm) deep on both sides of each leg. For thighs, trim off any excess skin and cut ½ inch into the meat on both sides of the bone. This ensures even marination and cooking

Step 5
Add chicken to the zip-top bag and marinate overnight in the refrigerator

Day 2: Step 6
Remove chicken from the refrigerator and transfer to a large bowl

Step 7
Add up to 1 cup rice flour to bowl and mix with chicken until a thin batter coats chicken

Step 8
Pre-heat deep fryer to 375 F

Step 9
In batches, add chicken to 375 F oil and immediately reduce temperature to 300 F for the remainder of each frying step. This ensures even cooking and prevents burning before the chicken reaches 175 F. If using chicken nuggets, use 375 F for the entire length of the cook step. Chicken legs and thighs need 10-12 minutes, wings 6-8 minutes and nuggets 3-4 minutes

Step 10
Once chicken has reached a safe internal temperature, remove from oil and drain on a rack 5-10 minutes before serving

Step 11
Serve with sweet chili sauce for dipping and sticky rice (recipe here) topped with fried shallots, if desired

Note: This is a slightly modified variation of the original recipe found here.

See It Made!

Associated Dishes