If you’ve ever been to a Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant, chances are you tried the salt and pepper chicken and fell in love with it.
Who wouldn’t? It’s crunchy fried chicken coated in a seemingly boring yet flavorful salt and pepper mixture.
The star ingredient is obviously the salt. It’s not any ordinary salt. The salt used in this recipe is toasted until golden brown. It’s then sprinkled onto the fried chicken at the very end of the cooking process. This method of toasting salt is a Chinese cooking secret that brings out the salt hidden flavor.
The other star ingredient but more infamously known, is MSG. What is MSG? It stands for Monosodium Glutamate. It’s a flavor enhancer when combined with something savory. It provides that savory flavor known as umami, a taste we previously didn’t know existed. MSG occurs abundantly in nature yet we condemn it in Chinese/Vietnamese cooking. We should take advantage of this culinary scientific discovery and use it in our cooking.
If you want to exclude MSG, you certainly can but it might not be as flavorful. Just replace it with a bit of additional salt to taste. Recipe below. Enjoy!
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Vietnamese Salt & Pepper Fried Chicken Wings (Ga Rang Muoi)
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 5 1x
Description
Crispy and flavorful, here’s my version of the popular restaurant-style Vietnamese/Chinese salt and pepper fried chicken wings.
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade
- 4 lbs bone-in chicken (I like using wings and drumettes)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons MSG
- 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Salt and Pepper Mixture
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Frying
- 1 egg
- 1 cup corn starch
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
- 4 stalks scallions (slice into 1-inch segments)
- 4 cloves garlic (slice thin)
- 1 large shallot (slice thin)
- 4 red chili peppers (optional, slice thin)
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing cooking wine
Instructions
- Marinate chicken with salt, MSG, five spice powder and black pepper for at least 30 minutes or overnight in fridge for best results.
- Make the salt and pepper mixture: Heat up a small frying pan (no oil need) and add salt. On low heat, pan fry the salt for 5 minutes until golden brown. Set aside to cool. Once completely cooled, add sugar and black pepper. Mix well to combine.
- Make the batter: In a small bowl, whisk the egg white until light and frothy. Add chicken and beaten egg white in a large plastic bag (or large bowl) and toss chicken is until evenly coated with egg whites. Add corn starch then toss again until chicken is evenly coated.
- Deep fry: Add vegetable oil to a wok, filling it about 1 1/2 inches deep. Heat the oil to 350°F. Fry the chicken in batches, flipping halfway through for even cooking. Each batch should take about 10 minutes. Drain the chicken well on a wire rack.
- Stir fry aromatics: Heat up a large wok with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, add scallions, garlic, shallot and chili peppers. Pan fry until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add fried chicken and give it quick toss with aromatics. Sprinkle salt and pepper mixture and toss until evenly coated. Add cooking wine along the edges of the wok. Toss the chicken one last time. Serve immediately for best results.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: side dish, appetizer
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: asian, vietnamese, chinese
