By Leigh O’Connor.
Susan Jung has always been in love with fried chicken and has travelled all over the world trying recipes to find her favourites.
Food Editor at Vogue Hong Kong, Susan was previously Food and Drinks Editor at the South China Morning Post for more than 20 years and now has released her book Kung Pao & Beyond, showcasing fried chicken recipes from East and Southeast Asia.
As a child, Susan marvelled at the deeply-flavoured and fantastically crunchy drumsticks her Uncle would cook at family gatherings. As a student, she revelled in a midnight snack of cold fried chicken while studying for exams and during her time at the Morning Post, her recipes were in constant demand.
Through years of exploration, Susan has discovered a huge range of possibilities for this well-loved dish and her book is a fried chicken lover’s compendium of the unique twists and flavours cooks in Asia have brought to this iconic dish.
From popular dishes like restaurant favourite chicken and black bean sauce to exploring new flavours in a plate of piping hot Japanese chicken karaage, this cookbook takes a humble fast food to a whole new level, along with amazing accompaniments.
Try this recipe for chicken Nanban – it’s yoshoku (Western-influenced Japanese food) at its best.
"This is one of my favourite ways to eat chicken breast – it sounds like an unlikely combination, fried chicken dunked into a light sauce, then served with tartar sauce which in the West is usually an accompaniment for seafood,” Susan explains.
"I often serve this dish with Japanese rice, shredded cabbage and pickled radish, or cucumber pickles.”
For the right flavour, it is important to use Kewpie mayonnaise for the tartar sauce in this recipe.
Susan’s chicken wings with ponzu and yuzu dressing are as close as you’ll get to taste what would be found at an izakaya restaurant in Japan. After being fried, the wings are dipped in sauce, which slightly softens the crispness.
"These wings are at their absolute best eaten within 10 minutes of being fried and dipped, but are also delicious even when the crispness has entirely faded,” she says.
Izakaya restaurants frequently serve the mid-joint portion with the wing tip attached, so use these if possible. Susan says bottled ponzu is fairly easy to find, but bottled yuzu might be a little more difficult – look for it at shops specialising in Japanese ingredients.
If you can’t find yuzu juice, use equal parts of fresh orange, lemon and lime juice to a total of five teaspoons.
With footy season well and truly upon us, these two recipes could become a Friday night go-to to take the edge off hunger while watching your favourite team.
