Fried Chicken Bites with Spicy Sauce

What's dinner tonight?

I was really impressed by this tiny Asian restaurant somewhere inside a dodgy building at Melbourne Chinatown, it's fully packed when we visited the store one afternoon. Most of the customers were Asians (mostly Taiwanese and HongKongers) and a handful of white collar officers. They offer a wide variety of dishes, mainly rice or noodle dishes. My sis and I were confused by the number of choices, all looks fantastic. After few minutes, the no-nonsense young student waitress came to take order. If I am to open a restaurant tomorrow, I would definitely get them to work for me. They were quick. We were happy that the food came really fast to satisfy our hunger. We had fried squid with salt and spicy sauce, with rice, and braised beef with rice. Both were nicely presented and yes, they tasted way better than the price (bout A$8 each).

So today, I wanted to make something fried, with soy sauce and yes have to be spicy. No squid in the freezer, chicken will do:)

250 gr chicken breast fillet (you can use other part if you like, but i prefer drier meat), cut into bite size

salt

1 tsp of candlenut powder* (optional)

1 tbs pepper

Marinate the chicken with the above ingredients for 1/2 hr.

Add 2 tbs of plain flour, 1 tbs of rice flour, small pinch of baking powder and 1/3 cup cold water. Mix well.

Fry till golden brown. Set aside.

Sauce:

1/4 green capsicum

1 stalk of leek, sliced thinly

4 chilli padi

2 garlic cloves

salt

1 tbs sugar

3 tbs of dark soy sauce

1/2 cup of water

1 tbs of flour+ water for thickening

Stir fry garlic with oil till golden. Add in sliced leek and chilli padi. Follow by soy sauce and water, salt and sugar. Bring to boil. Add flour mixture.

Arrange fried chicken with a plate of plain rice. Spoon the sauce onto the rice and chicken.

I had omelette with prawn and leek too:)

*candlenut/kemiri is often used in Indonesian cuisine. Can be found in Asian groceries. I find powder form is more convenient.