Laksa-Fried Chicken with Mint Sauce

This recipe was created by Adam Liaw who won the title of MasterChef, Australia recently, inspired by fried chicken stalls in Malaysia. The name of the dish, Laksa-Fried Chicken with Mint Sauce, really got my attention. I have ever thought that laksa could be used in frying chicken due to all my previous encounters of laksa in soups. Flipping through the pages of the MasterChef Magazine and browsing all the mouth-watering recipes, I felt this dish was a must to try first. (I made Alvin’s drunken chicken before buying this magazine.) It’s a big hit in my family when the laksa-fried chicken was served on the dining table before my family. My hubby even made a remark that this dish was even better than the roast duck we ate in a restaurant on the day celebrating my birthday.

Amongst all the MasterChef magazines I bought, this issue is very special, so to speak, it’s a celebration of the achievements of the top four finalists along the journey in the competition. To me, it’s quite amazing that you’ve found someone who you know via twitting/blogging was mentioned in a magazine right in front of your nose. Congratulations on the feature of your blog, Ellie.

Laksa-Fried Chicken with Mint Sauce (Printable recipe)
Adapted from Masterchef Magazine August 2010 issue 4

Ingredients:

• 1.6 kg whole chicken rinsed, patted dry, cut into 10 pieces (I used 4 chicken drumsticks and 4 chicken thighs with bone and skin on)
• Vegetable oil, to deep-fry
• 75 g (1/2 cup) cornflour
• 75 g (1/2 cup) plain flour
• 90 g (1 cup) desiccated coconut
• Fried long chilli, steamed rice and garlic chives (optional), to serve

Laksa Curry Paste:

• 5 dried long chillies, seeded, available from Asian grocers
• 2 tbsp dried shrimp, available from Asian grocers
• 2 long red chillies, seeded
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 onions, roughly chopped
• 5 macadamia nuts
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp finely grated ginger
• 2 stalks lemongrass, white part only, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp ground turmeric
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) peanut oil (I used barn rice oil)

Mint Sauce:

• 1 tbsp finely chopped Vietnamese mint (or coriander leaves), available from selected greengrocers and Asian grocers.
• 80 ml (1/3 cup) rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red bird's-eye chilli, seeded, finely chopped

Method:

1. To make curry paste, place dried chillies and shrimp in separate bowls. Cover both with boiling water and soak for 20 minutes. Drain. Process chillies and shrimp with remaining ingredients in a food processor to a paste.
2. Place chicken pieces and curry paste in a large snap-lock bag. Seal bag, then rub chicken with paste to coat. Refrigerate overnight to marinate.
3. To make mint sauce, place all the ingredients in a screw-top jar and shake well to combine. Set aside until needed.
4. Preheat oven to 160C. Remove chicken from bag, leaving a coating of paste on the chicken. Fill a deep-fryer or saucepan one-third full with oil and heat over medium heat to 160C (or until a cube of bread turns golden in 20 seconds). Combine flours, coconut and 2 tsp salt in a bowl. Coat chicken thighs and legs in the coconut mixture, then drop gently in oil and fry, turning occasionally, for 8 minutes or until dark golden (it will not be cooked through). Drain on paper towel. (Remark: I removed the chicken from fridge, and let them rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before deep-frying.)
5. Transfer to an oven tray lined with baking paper and roast for 8 minutes or until cooked. Meanwhile, coat and fry chicken breasts for 8 minutes or until cooked through. Drain on paper towel and transfer to the oven tray to keep warm. Repeat coating with chicken wings, frying for 5 minutes or until cooked through. Drain on paper towel. Scatter chicken with fried chilli and season with sea salt. Serve with mint sauce, rice and garlic chives, if using.

Note:

• Ask your butcher to cut the chicken into 2 thighs, 2 legs, 2 wings, and each breast in half on the bone. As I used drumsticks and thighs, I deep-fried them in batches, drumsticks first then followed by thighs.