American Southern-Style Fried Chicken Bites

 炸鸡

This fried chicken recipe is different from my other fried chicken recipes (here, here, here, here and here) as it soaks the chicken in buttermilk brine which helps to tenderise the chicken, and the chicken is cooked sous vide before deep frying. Follow this recipe to get fried chicken that is quite similar to KFC fried chicken or Shake Shack chicken bites. 

Ingredients:

500g chicken breast 

Buttermilk brine/marinade: 125ml buttermilk (or 125ml milk with 1/2 tsp white vinegar), 1 tsp salt, 1/2 egg

Herb-seasoned flour: 120g plain flour, 40g corn flour, 1 tsp black pepper, 3/4 tsp paprika, 3/4 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp ginger powder, 1/2 tsp dried herbs (thyme and/or oregana), 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp celery salt

2 tbsp plain flour (plus more, if needed)

Method:

1. Prepare buttermilk brine by mixing buttermilk with salt and egg. If you do not have buttermilk, pour milk in a large bowl, add white vinegar to it, give a quick stir and let it sit for 10 minutes until it starts to coagulate/curdle a little. After that, mix in salt and egg. 

2. Use a sharp tip of the knife to poke the chicken breasts lightly to help the meat absorb the marinade, then cut into bite size.

3. Submerge the chicken into the buttermilk brine (in a vacuum bag) for at least 3 hour or overnight (in fridge - remove chicken from fridge one hour before cooking).

4. On day of cooking, sous vide the chicken breasts first. Heat a pot of water to 70 degree celcius. Submerge the vacuum bag with chicken pieces into the water for 45 minutes. After 45minutes, remove the chicken pieces from the vacuum bag and put them in a sieve for the excess marinade to drip off (into a bowl)

5. When ready to fry the chicken, prepare the herb-seasoned flour. Add 4 to 5 tablespoon of marinade into the herb-seasoned flour and use a whisk to mix until you get lots of lumpy flour bits. These lumpy flour bits will turn into crunchy crust after frying.

6. Lightly coat each piece of chicken with plain flour and shake off excess flour. Then dip the chicken into the marinade and dredge the chicken through the herb-seasoned flour. Squeeze the chicken piece using your palm so that the flour will adhere to the chicken. Repeat for remaining chicken pieces. Rest the breaded chicken pieces on a tray for 10 to 15 minutes (to allow the flour to adhere properly to the chicken). 

7. Fry the chicken pieces in batches until golden brown, flipping it half way through frying. Transfer the chicken to wire rack to drain excess oil. Repeat until all chicken pieces have been fried. 

Enjoy the chicken bites whilst warm and crispy!