450 g boneless skinless chicken breast (~2 breasts)
30 g soy sauce
30 g mirin
2 g MSG
2 g baking soda
30 g potato starch (sub cornstarch)
Dry Mix
350 g all-purpose flour
10 g baking powder
8 g garlic powder
20 g salt
350 g potato starch
Batter
250 g dry mix (taken from above)
300 g water
Sauce
60 g soy sauce
30 g sesame oil
60 g mirin
45 g rice vinegar
30 g sambal oelek or sriracha
20 g ketchup
70 g sugar (includes 10g brown sugar)
10 g cornstarch
1 g MSG
Stir-Fry And Finish
40 g sliced scallion whites/light greens (reserve dark greens for garnish)
5-8 dried chiles de árbol, cracked and deseeded (optional)
20 g grated ginger
20 g grated garlic (5 cloves)
Neutral oil for frying (1.5-2 in depth)
Steamed rice, to serve
Instructions
Chicken And Marinade
Jaccard each chicken breast ~10 times per side (or poke 20-30 times per side with a fork). Slice each breast into 3-4 long strips, then cut into ~3/4 in cubes.
Combine soy sauce, mirin, MSG, baking soda, and potato starch. Add chicken and mix to coat. Rest 20 min.
Dry Mix
Whisk flour, baking powder, garlic powder, salt, and potato starch in a large bowl until uniform.
Batter
In a separate bowl, weigh 250 g of the dry mix. Add 300 g water and stir until it resembles thin pancake batter.
Craggy Bits
Pour 200 g of the batter into the remaining dry mix. Briefly whisk, then use your hand to rub and crumble until rice-to-lentil sized pebbles form. These become the crisp bits.
Dredging
Toss 1/3 of the marinated chicken in the batter to lightly coat. Lift, let excess drip, then drop into the craggy dry mix.
Fluff and tumble to build a strong base layer. Shower on extra craggy bits, give a gentle squeeze, then shake off excess.
Repeat with remaining chicken.
Resting
Spread breaded chicken on a tray and refrigerate 20 min to hydrate the starch for better adhesion.
Sauce
Whisk soy sauce, sesame oil, mirin, rice vinegar, sambal, ketchup, sugar, brown sugar, cornstarch, and MSG until smooth. Set aside.
Frying
Heat neutral oil in a Dutch oven to 325°F (never fill pot more than 50%).
Fry chicken in two batches. Do not touch for 1 min, then gently nudge to prevent sticking.
Fry 6-7 min until deeply golden. Drain on a rack or paper towel. Repeat.
Stir-Fry And Finish
Heat a wok or large nonstick pan on high. Add a squeeze of oil and stir-fry scallions for 60 sec.
Add dried chiles (optional) and toast briefly. Add ginger and garlic and stir 30-40 sec until fragrant.
Pour in the sauce around the pan edge. Bring to a boil and reduce 15-20% until slightly thick.
Add fried chicken and toss ~30 sec to coat and simmer. The coating will absorb the sauce and stay crisp in spots.
Serve over steamed rice and garnish with scallion greens.