Fried five-spice flavored chicken

Five-spice powder is one of the most favorite seasonings by Vietnamese people. It has the origin from China, but I am not sure when it came to Vietnamese food. However, when I grew up and started to learn cooking from my mom, I already realized that this powder was always present in our home’s kitchen. 

I also heard that many Vietnamese students who study abroad never forget to bring along several or many small sachets of five-spice powder to add homely flavor to their food. This powder is widely used in marinating meats, especially poultry and pork. Five-spice marinated dish appear very popularly in family daily meal due to its easy applicability to the meat.

As my experience, there are two secrets in marinating to bring out the distinctive flavor of the dish. Firstly, rice cooking wine should be used to dissolve the powder. Rice wine not only adds more flavor to the meat but also has some effect on tendering the meat. Secondly, it is the usage of fish sauce in marinating instead of using salt or other kind of salty granules. Fish sauce adds flavor to the meat and makes the meat "deeper" in the taste. This is the way I often cook my five-spice flavored chicken.

Ingredients: (serves 2-3)

- 2 chicken legs plus 2 wings (or 500-600g boned chicken)

- 1 sachet of five-spice powder

- 2 tbs rice cooking wine

- 2 tbs fish sauce

- 1 tsp ground black pepper

- vegetable oil, as needed

Cooking:

- Rinse the chicken parts well, cut into parts, trim off excess fat from the meat, then pat dry with kitchen towel.

- Combine five-spice powder, rice wine, fish sauce and pepper, then pour over the chicken parts to coat them thoroughly. Marinated for at least 1hour in the fridge.

- Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan, heat the oil over medium-low heat. When the oil is hot enough, add the chicken parts and fry them until they are golden brown on every side or cooked through. (do not set the heat too high or the outside is burn too fast while the inside still remains raw).