salt and pepper chicken

This was one of my favourite takeaway meals when I lived in Glasgow, and I have no way of knowing if it's going to turn out anywhere like my memory of it, because I'm writing this as the deep fat fryer heats up. But I will finish this entry after we have eaten it, and then you'll know. It should be crunchy, frispy and light, and I like to serve it with some fried rice.

Here's what I've done so far:

Marinated some lean chicken pieces (LW prefers breast meat to thigh, so that's what we've gone with. Needless to say, it's free-range & organic) in soy sauce (light and dark), rice wine, oyster sauce, chinese 5-spice, salt, white pepper and an egg yolk. I left the chicken in the mixture for about 2 hours, and then drained it, and coated the pieces in flour. I've kept the marinade, because it might be useful to flavour the fried rice. We shall see...

Meanwhile I cooked some rice, and fried up and egg, softened some finely-chopped onion, and defrosted some frozen peas. I also finely chopped some coriander.

Next up is the frying of the chicken: in the deep fat fryer until perfectly cooked at about 180degC (about 6 minutes) It then goes in a dish I've warmed and covered with kitchen paper in the oven whilst I do the fried rice:

The cooked rice goes in 1st and cooks until the grains start to go translucent. Then I add the other ingredients except the coriander and fry them all up until it's all hot.

Then the coriander goes in at the last minute, the rice is put on a plate and the chicken on top. I added a wee sprinkle of crispy fried onion to complete.

So. How did it compare to my memory from Glasgow?

Well. It didn't taste the same, but it was delicious. I think the Glesga version had a batter around it, and some chilli within, but I shall keep trying. The rice was lovely, and not at all greasy.

One more thing: I really apologise for the poor quality of the photos. I must try to get to grips with the "hipstamatic" app for my camera/phone. Improvements will be in order.