So, the new Chinese cooking revolution has started. Craving education and I’ve found the book to do so. I’ve been following Chin & Choo Taylor on social media for a while. I love their attitude towards cooking, making it fun and look simple whilst stripping back cooking to educate everyone how to make our favourite Chinese ‘restaurant or takeaway’ meals. Their new book was released in September 2026 and I was all over it! What a great book!!! Here are a few of the recipes I’ve made already. Plus, I’ve never cooked with MSG so this is a real cooking experience.
Ingredients-
11 tosp potato starch
Pinch of salt
Pinch of MSG
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp ground white pepper
1 egg
3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into cubes
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
For the sauce
1 tbsp vegetable oil
15g (½oz) fresh ginger, minced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
Pinch of salt
Pinch of MSG, plus ¼ tsp
2 tbsp chilli sauce (the kind you get in jars with bits, not a condiment in a bottle)
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp white rice vinegar (not rice wine, they are not the same, like cider isn’t cider vinegar)
3 tbsp sugar
100ml (3½fl oz) water
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp chilli flakes
To garnish
Chopped chillies
Sliced spring onions
Sesame seeds
Method –
Place 3 tbsp of the potato starch in a bowl with the salt, MSG garlic powder & white pepper, & mix.
Add in the cubed chicken pieces and mix ensuring all the chicken is evenly dusted.
Add the egg & mix again coating the chicken.
Add the remaining 8 tbsp of potato starch. Mix well to create a batter.
Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan. Bring it to 180 degrees. Once it’s hot enough add in the chicken pieces but don’t overcrowd the pan as this lowers the temperature.
Check the core temperature of the chicken. Once it reaches 80 degrees, remove from the oil with a slotted spoon onto a plate with kitchen paper to soak up any oil.
Once all the chicken has been cooked, set it aside for 20 minutes.
Heat the same oil. Again bring the temperature to 180 degrees. Fry the chicken is batches again to crisp up the batter (and trust me it’s amazing when eating the finished dish).
The frying should only take a couple of minutes max, again, when cooked remove with a slotted spoon onto kitchen paper to drain off any excess oil.
Beautiful cookery if I do say so myself !!
Now we build the sauce in a wok. Heat a tbsp of vegetable oil. Once hot add in the minced ginger, cook this for 30 seconds or so allowing to caramelise and become nice a fragrant.
Add in the chopped garlic and fry for 20/30 seconds.
Now we start to add in quickly the main sauce ingredients quickly…….
Chilli sauce – sweet everyday supermarket type.
Followed by the tomato ketchup plus the dark and light soy sauce……
Then the white rice vinegar……..
Plus the hoisin sauce, salt, sugar and MSG……..
Then finally the water & sesame oil plus the chilli flakes. Bring this to the boiled and reduce until it becomes nice and sticky…….
The sauce will thicken as it cooks down……
Once you’re happy with the sticky sauce, add back your chicken battered pieces.
Mix well ensuring they are fully coated in the sauce……I added some diced red chillies and spring onions.
Plate up, sprinkle with the sesame seeds and a few pieces of the remaining spring onions.
Outstanding………
Thank you for reading my ramblings if you’ve made it this far without failing a sleep!
