This delicious dish is based on Cantonese fried chicken, in which chicken is poached in an aromatic broth, coated in a sticky glaze and deep-fried to crispy perfection. Here, Pollyanna serves the chicken in a taco with refreshing smacked cucumber.
Place all ingredients for the poaching stock (apart from the cornflour) in a pan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Turn down to a simmer, add the chicken and gently poach for 10–12 minutes
Remove the chicken and set aside. Turn up the heat and reduce the poaching liquor to a syrup. Once you get to single cream consistency, add the cornflour paste to thicken to a glossy glaze
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Brush the chicken with some of the glaze then leave to air-dry
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Preheat a deep-fryer or deep pan of oil to 180°C
vegetable oil, for deep frying
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Smash the cucumber with the bottom of a pan or the side of a large, heavy knife. Dice into 1cm cubes, place in a colander and sprinkle over the salt. Gently mix then set aside in the fridge for 10 minutes
In the meantime, toast the sichuan pepper and chilli flakes in a hot dry pan until fragrant. Transfer to a mortar and pestle and crush to a course powder. Toast the sesame seeds then mix with the crushed spices. Combine the spices with the cucumber along with the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil
Deep-fry the chicken pieces until golden brown, then brush with more of the glaze
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To assemble the tacos, brush the centre of each tortilla with some of the glaze. Add some small sprigs of coriander then top with the chicken pieces and some smashed cucumber
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