Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs, fat trimmed and cut in half
- 2 cups buttermilk
- ½ cup plain flour
- ½ cup corn flour
- Vegetable oil, to deep fry
Chilli caramel
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 knob of ginger, grated
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 long red chilli's, finely sliced (you can do more or less depending on your chilli threshold)
- 2 shallots, finely diced
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
Method
1. Place chicken thighs into a medium sized bowl and cover with buttermilk. Cover bowl with cling wrap. and place in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight (the longer the better for super juicy and moist (I'm so sorry) chicken).
2. In a large bowl, combine flours, season with salt and pepper and toss to combine. At this point, you should also heat vegetable oil in a heavy cast iron pot or deep fryer.
3. Take one piece of chicken out of the buttermilk and let it drip for a few seconds before placing it in the flour mixture, turning to completely coat and transferring to a plate lined with baking paper. Repeat with remaining pieces of chicken.
4. Once oil has reached 160°C, use tongs to gently lower chicken pieces in, one at a time (cook pieces in batches to prevent the oil temperature from dropping too much.)
5. Fry chicken for 10-12 minutes or until golden and cooked through, ensuring you gently stir the pot every now and again to prevent chicken from sticking to the bottom.
6. Once cooked, transfer chicken to a plate lined with paper towel and repeat with remaining chicken pieces.
7. While chicken is cooking, prepare the chilli caramel by placing sugar and water into a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook for 5-6 minutes or until sugar has completely melted and is a smooth consistency.
8. Remove saucepan from the heat and add fish sauce and soy sauce and stir to combine (be super careful with this step as mixture will bubble rapidly when the cold sauces are added to the hot sugar).
9. Return saucepan to a medium heat. Add ginger, garlic, chilli and shallots, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 5-10 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Remove from the heat.
10. Finally, carefully place fried chicken pieces into chilli caramel sauce and toss to coat. Serve while still warm. I love to serve mine with a fresh Thai herb salad or some steamed green vegetables.