Chicken Lollipop
Restaurant-style Chicken Lollipop and Drums of Heaven, made easily at home. A double-frying technique ensures perfectly crisp chicken in a spicy, sticky sauce.
Getting that perfect, shatteringly crisp restaurant-style chicken lollipop at home comes down to one crucial technique: the double fry. Frying the chicken once until it is mostly cooked, letting it rest, and then flash-frying it right before tossing it in the sauce makes all the difference. The resting phase allows the coating to firm up, so the second fry creates a crust that won't turn soggy as soon as it hits the hot wok.
If you want to save time, ask your butcher for pre-shaped lollipops to skip the most tedious part of the process. I make a large batch of the Kashmiri red chilli paste since it takes time to soak and grind. You will have extra, but it stores beautifully in the fridge and adds great depth to other marinades. The sauce here is bold, sticky, and coats the drums of heaven perfectly. Just ensure your wok is smoking hot before you start the final toss.
Instructions
- Ask your butcher for pre-shaped lollipops if you want to skip the butchery steps.
- Cut the drumettes to shape them, trimming the lower part and scraping the meat upwards to form a lollipop.
- Run a knife carefully at the bottom of the wingette, separating the bone joint.
- Scrap the wingette meat upwards, separating and discarding the thinner bone as you go.
- Soak the deseeded Kashmiri chillies in hot water for 1 to 2 hours until softened.
- Grind the soaked chillies into a fine paste, adding a splash of water to the mixer jar.
- Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in a pan over high flame until hot.
- Cook the chilli paste over medium-high flame for 4 to 5 minutes, until crumbly and oil releases.
- Stir vinegar into the cooked chilli paste, then transfer to a bowl and let it cool completely.
- Mix the chicken lollipops with salt, white pepper, and ginger garlic chilli paste in a large bowl.
- Add 1 tablespoon of red chilli paste, soy sauce, vinegar, flours, egg white, and baking soda.
- Mix the marinade well to coat the chicken, adding a splash of water if it feels too dry.
- Marinate the chicken for 30 minutes to let the flavours absorb.
- Heat oil to 160°C, checking that it is hot enough for frying.
- Fry the lollipops over medium flame for 6 to 7 minutes, until the chicken is 80 to 90 percent done.
- Transfer the fried chicken to a sieve and let them rest for exactly 15 minutes.
- Heat the oil to 180°C and flash fry the rested chicken for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Check that the internal temperature reaches 74°C (165°F) for food safety.
- Set a wok over high heat for the sauce, letting it get smoking hot.
- Lower the flame, add oil, ginger, garlic, spring onion bulbs, and green chillies.
- Saute the aromatics for 1 to 2 minutes, until they soften and release their fragrance.
- Stir in the chilli paste, ketchup, chilli sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, pepper, and salt.
- Cook the sauce mixture for 1 to 2 minutes, until bubbly and well combined.
- Pour in hot water as required to reach your desired sauce consistency.
- Stir the corn flour slurry into the wok, mixing continuously until the sauce thickens.
- Switch off the flame once the sauce is thick and glossy.
- Toss the flash-fried chicken lollipops and spring onion greens into the hot sauce.
- Switch the flame back on briefly to coat the chicken quickly, then remove from heat.
Notes
The Kashmiri red chilli paste recipe makes a larger batch than you need for this dish. You can store the excess in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
When mixing the marinade, the single egg white and wet pastes are usually enough to hydrate the flours. If the mixture feels too powdery or dry, add a small splash of water until it coats the chicken thickly.
This recipe factors in doubling the original sauce quantities so there is enough to generously coat all 12 chicken pieces for Drums of Heaven.
Do not forget to account for the hidden prep time: the chillies need 1 to 2 hours of soaking, the chicken needs 30 minutes to marinate, and the first fry needs a 15-minute rest.
