Description
THE BEST CRISPY TAIWANESE FRIED TURKEY 鹹酥火雞
Feast on this super crunchy, lightly crispy, and addictive savoury snack! Snack on this air-fried crispy Taiwanese Popcorn Turkey. Make it your best friend tonight!
Scale
Ingredients
- 500g turkey thigh, (skin removed optional)
- 200g potato starch
- 1 bunch thai basil
- 2 tbsp white pepper powder
- 2 tbsp white sugar
Marinade
- 2 tbsp dark soy
- 1 tbsp light soy
- 2 tbsp shaoxing wine
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp five spice powder
- 3 stems white parts of green onions
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 2 inch thumb ginger
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
Preparing the Turkey
- Cut down your turkey thighs into bite-size pieces approximately 2 inches lengthwise with a heavy knife.
- In a blender or a personal sized Vitamix and blend all the marinade ingredients.
- Marinade your turkey pieces for 20 minutes – preferably overnight in the refrigerator.
- Remove the marinated turkey from the refrigerator and coat the turkey with potato starch. The excess marinade will create little balls of crunchiness when deep-fried.
Air Fryer Method:
- Spray the tray and the turkey with some oil. We use a simple oil spray mister bottle.
- Place the coated turkey pieces in the air fryer tray/basket with 1/4-inch space between each piece.
- First Fry: Set the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for 15 minutes. Flip halfway through and lightly spray the turkey with more oil.
- Remove air fryer tray/basket and let cool for 5 minutes, then air fry a second time.
- Second Fry: Set the temperature to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for 5 minutes.
- Remove from the air fryer basket and let rest for 5 minutes.
- Toss and garnish with white pepper, sugar, and air fried Thai basil.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Air Fried Thai Basil:
- Spray the tray and the Thai Basil leaves with some oil.
- Place the Thai Basil leaves in the air fryer tray/basket.
- Set temperature to 250 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for 10 minutes. Check halfway to see if it has dried.
- Do not overcook, or it will turn brown.
Notes
- You can substitute five spice powder with galangal sand ginger powder 沙薑粉 for a milder taste.
- If you don’t have potato starch, you can also use corn starch but it won’t be as crispy.
- Taiwanese fried chicken is deep-fried twice: first at a low temperature to cook through the meat, and the second at high heat to push out the excess oil, and create that crispy crunch!
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