KEN Hom is treated like a Saint in culinary circles and I’ve bought loads of his books over the last 30 years and had some significant success cooking dishes I would never have attempted without his advice.
And last weekend Ken once again provided one of the best tips I have ever had for cooking Chinese food when he answered a viewer’s question on James Martin’s ‘Saturday Kitchen’. It's perfect timing for Chinese New Year which falls this year on Wednesday (February 3).
The question was: ‘How do you cook Chinese chicken to keep the meat moist on the inside and crispy on the outside?’ (as they do in all Chinese restaurants). Sounds a bit simplistic, but this is a question I have attempted to solve on my own for many years with only very limited and sporadic success.
And I’ll admit that finding the resolution to this question is something I thought I would never achieve after so many years of cooking Chinese food. Well, hold on folks, Ken Hom has the answer - and it’s so simple you could kick yourself.
In his famous original book ‘Ken Hom’s Chinese Cookery’ published in 1984 Ken’s numerous chicken recipes always advised cutting up chicken breasts into chunks and covering with a coating of egg white, salt and cornflour, mixing well and leave in the fridge.
This works, to some extent, but somehow I found that stir-frying the chicken didn’t just quite hit the mark by comparison to the local Chinese restaurant. I’ll be honest, I wrongly assumed that maybe the Chinese restaurants were using additives like monosodium glutamate to achieve that distinctive flavour - so I settled for not quite “hitting the mark” because adding msg will never happen in my kitchen.
So, when Ken Hom was asked the age-old question on ‘Saturday Kitchen’ my initial gut feeling was that he would repeat the advice in his original BBC book. But no - this time the answer was a fair bit different.
Instead of egg white, cornflour and salt, Ken Hom now advises that the mixture for coating the chicken should change to sesame oil, cornflour and 5-spice powder. Leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes and then part-cook the chicken pieces in “warm” oil for just a few minutes before draining and set aside. I found that using a little extra cornflour made a difference, so that each piece of chicken was nicely coated and not too sticky.
After you’ve made your sauce (I used a second wok but any decent pan will do), then turn up the heat in the first wok and re-cook the chicken pieces, only this time at a much higher temperature and stir-fry the chicken for a few minutes.
What a difference this makes! The chicken was crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside. Eureka! Add the sauce afterwards and you have the perfect Chinese dish which - daft as it sounds - actually tastes just like a perfect Chinese dish!
Ken Hom - you are a genius!
MANX CHINESE CHICKEN
Recipe by Bill Dale
INGREDIENTS:
8 ozs Manx chicken breast, cut into decent sized chunks
1-2 tsps sesame oil
2 tbspns cornflour
1 teaspoon 5-spice powder
oil for deep frying
Sauce:
half a bunch of spring onions,
1 clove crushed garlic
1 inch cube of crushed or finely diced fresh ginger
1 tbspn (or more) sweet chilli sauce
1 tbspn Manx honey
chicken stock, as required
METHOD:
1. Mix the sesame oil, cornflour and 5-spice powder together in a large bowl. Add more cornflour if it’s too sticky or more oil if it’s too dry.
2. Add the chicken pieces and coat with the cornflour mixture. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
3. Heat the cooking oil in a wok or pan (a wok is definitely best) until just getting warm, but not too hot. Add the chicken pieces and cook for about 2 minutes. This may be best done in batches - so don’t over-fill the wok with too many chicken pieces.
4. Remove the chicken pieces with a slotted spoon and drain off the oil. Leave for 5 minutes.
5. Set aside the cooking oil (keep again for future Chinese cooking). Add 2 tablespoons of the oil to the wok until it’s really hot and stir-fry the part-cooked chicken pieces for a further 2-3 minutes maximum until quite crispy on the outside. Remove the chicken pieces, cover and keep warm.
6. Take another tablespoon of oil and put back into the wok. Add the garlic, ginger and spring onions and stir-fry for a few seconds. Then add the rest of the ingredients - apart from the chicken stock - and cook the mixture for another 1-2 minutes. Add more chilli sauce or honey if wished - to taste. Add chicken stock if the sauce gets too thick.
6. Take the chicken pieces and add to the mixture. Stir-fry for another 1-2 minutes and serve immediately with either egg fried rice or noodles. Fantastic.
