NEW RECIPE: Asian Fried Chicken with Curry Braised Leeks

© Constantine William Spyrou

First off, before I begin, I want to say thank you to everyone who has every viewed this blog. Over the past week, this blog officially turned a year old. Since then, I've made around 60 unique recipes that I've shared with all of you. Originally, this blog was just meant to be somewhere for me to record recipes I had in my head down. However, because of you guys, this has turned into an amazing experience where I've gotten feedback and even ideas for new recipes from you guys! Thank you all so very much. You guys have helped make this blog a success! =)

Anyways... onto this recipe. Fried chicken is hands down one of my favorite foods, and I've always wanted to try giving it an Asian spin. This recipe takes a lot of the typical spices of Asia and puts it into a chicken dredge that makes them delicious pan fried! Served with some curry-braised leeks that give a great balance of texture (the creaminess of the leeks playing against the crisp chicken), this will be an enjoyable feast! 


Recipe will serve up to 4 people.

For the Chicken:

2 medium chickens, cut into 8 portions each
1 cup rice wine
1/2 gallon water
2 1/4cups soy sauce
1/4 cup white peppercorns
1 cup fresh sliced ginger
1/4 cup star anise
2 sticks cinnamon
1/4 cup cloves
2 cups flour
4 eggs
4 cups panko breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground white pepper
1 tablespoon togarashi red pepper
1/2 tablespoon chinese five spice
Vegetable oil for frying

For the Leeks:

4 leeks, washed and halved
Salt and pepper to season
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup white wine
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 tablespoon curry powder

Cooking/Assembling:

1. Start by brining the chicken in the water, 2 cups of soy sauce, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, rice wine, and ginger. The chicken should sit in this mixture for at least 4 hours in the fridge, and can sit up to 2 days in this brine.
2. Make your dredges by seasoning the flour with half of each of the salt, white pepper, red pepper, and five spice. Remove any cloves or star anise and such stuck to the chicken, then roll in the flour. Transfer to the eggs, which should be beaten with a couple of tablespoons of water. Finally, roll around in the panko, which should be seasoned as well with the remaining spices.
3. In a deep pan, add vegetable oil until it fills one third to half of the pan. Heat to 375 degrees (it will be there when you can stick a chopstick in and it bubbles. You can also use a candy thermometer to check the temperature). Fry the chicken for 15 minutes on each side, until golden brown.
4. As the chicken is frying, season your halved leeks. Sear in a hot pan on medium high-heat with some olive oil. Once the leeks have a golden brown color on each side, melt the butter into the pan. Deglaze with the white wine, and pour in your chicken stock and curry powder. Bring down to a simmer, and cover most of the way. The leeks will take 10-12 minutes to cook.
5. Once everything is done cooking, serve the leeks alongside your chicken!

Brining the chicken makes it a lot more tender and juicy in the final product, and seasoning at each stage ensures the strong Asian flavors stick throughout the whole bite and aren't lost. Also, covering the leeks just partially means they don't lose their color as they cook, which is extremely important. Overall, this dish will be a great one because of how well the leeks and chicken play off of each other!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)