Honey Chilli Chicken is a traditional Chinese recipe for a classic dish of chicken pieces cooked with garlic, ginger, chilli and spring onions finished with a honey, soy sauce rice wine, sesame oil and lime juice dressing. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Chinese version of: Honey Chilli Chicken.
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This sticky, crunchy, just spicy enough Chinese-style honey chilli chicken is a Chinese takeaway staple that you can readily prepare at home. Chicken is also a Chinese New Year staple as it's a meat that everyone should be able to afford so this makes a great dish for your Chinese New Year table.
Ingredients:
For the honey chilli chicken:
4 skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra for frying
½ tsp sea salt
1 large egg, beaten
60g plain flour
25g cornflour
1 large garlic clove, very finely chopped
3–4cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
1 red chilli, thinly sliced
2 large spring onions, roughly chopped
For the sauce:
2 tbsp runny honey
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp Shaoxing rice wine (or substitute dry sherry)
½ tsp toasted sesame oil
juice of ½ lime
Method:
Begin by preparing the sauce: Whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl along with 4 tbsp cold water. Set aside until needed.
In a medium-sized bowl, toss the chicken pieces with the vegetable oil and sea salt. Stir in the egg. sift over the flour and cornflour then stir until the chicken is properly coated.
Pour in enough oil to just cover the base of a large wok or frying pan. Set over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering. At this point add the chicken in batches and fry for a few minutes on each side until golden. Put the first batch cooked chicken on a plate lined with kitchen paper while you cook the remaining chicken pieces.
Discard all the oil from the wok, then carefully wipe it clean with another piece of kitchen paper. Sit the wok back over medium heat and gently fry the garlic, ginger and chilli in a teaspoon of oil for about a minute until fragrant.
Return the chicken to the wok, then stir in the sauce you prepared earlier. Bring the sauce to a simmer and allow it to bubble away for a minute or so until it has thickened slightly and is coating the chicken.
Turn into a bowl and serve immediately, with the chopped spring onions sprinkled over the top.
