Honey Chicken

Honey chicken, a favorite take out dish which can be replicated at your home so easily and it tastes much better than the restaurant one. Chunks of crispy batter fried chicken tossed in a sticky sweet glaze is purely irresistible when served on a bed of piping hot noodles or fried rice. I have tried several versions of honey chicken but found this to be the besttt!  If you haven't tried it yet, then do try out this version...it's really lip smacking!

Some points that have to kept in mind while making this dish

• Preferably use tender chicken breasts or boneless thighs to make this. And if you are using the breast, slice the breast horizontally through the middle and then cut into small cubes.
• In the batter mix, while adding water, add ice cold water- this makes the batter light and as an end result you will get  chicken which is crispy out and at the same time soft and juicy inside.

Ingredients

250 gm boneless chicken breast or thighs

Marination

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp pepper powder(preferably white pepper, I have used her black pepper as I didn't have white pepper in stock)

1 1/2 Tbsp water

For the honey sauce

2 1/2 Tbsp tomato ketchup

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp honey

1 1/2 Tbsp water

For the batter

1 egg

salt to taste

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup corn flour

6 Tbsp all purpose flour

5 Tbsp chilled water/ice water

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Method

• Cut the chicken into small bite sized cubes and marinate it with all the ingredients under 'marination'. Refrigerate the marinated chicken for 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile mix all the ingredients mentioned under 'for the honey sauce' and keep it aside.
• In a bowl, except oil, add all the remaining ingredients mentioned under 'for the batter' and whisk well.
• Once everything is mixed well , add the oil also and whisk very well until you get a smooth consistency batter.
• Now take the marinated chicken cubes and add it into the batter. Mix well, so that the batter coats each and every chicken piece well.
• Heat enough oil for frying. Fry the chicken pieces one by one in small batches. Fry each batch for exactly one minute and remove and keep aside.
• Once you have fried all the chicken pieces, then into the same oil add all the fried chicken pieces in one go and fry till golden brown(keep turning them around in the oil). Fry for at least 4-5 minutes on a medium heat. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep aside.
• Now in another pan, heat the prepared honey sauce. Once it starts to bubble add the fried chicken pieces and toss well so that each and every chicken piece is nicely coated with the sauce. Remove from heat and sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds.
• Serve hot with noodles or fried rice.