Chicken Balls

dvdfan

Hello, i was wondering if anyone had a good recipe for making chicken balls like you get in most chinese take aways. Also i would be particularly interested in getting the batter right, nothing worse than deformed looking battered chicken balls, so is there a knack to how to get smoother looking batter, ive checked online but i cant find anything anywhere, maybe these are just an irish thing??

Cheers

BuffyBot

try here, a few posts down, the batter recipie might work out

http://www.toptastes.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000754

dvdfan

Hello, Thanks will try that batter, i was just wondering is that cornstarch the equivilant of cornflour or not??? and if not where is the best place to pick cornstarch up, tesco's, dunnes, supervalu etc??

Thanks

Cal

Yup Cornflour is the same and is the real trick to a light smooth chinese style batter.

Cal.

dvdfan

Thanks Cal, tried the batter reciepe and it turned out good except for as the chicken ball dropped in the grease it became a bit deformed as the batter was dripping off the chicken balls as it hit the fryer and hardened quickly as soon as i t touched the grease.

Is there any trick to it that helps keep the batter as smooth as possible without a stagmite shaped deformities from the dripping batter as it enters the grease. Also the balls tend to drop straight to the bottom and hit the chip basket and bounce back up, this leaves a indent of the chip basket, ive taught of removing the chip basket (this is a fairly large fryer) but it will most probably just get stuck to the elements. Anyone know a good way around this, ive taught about using a large pot, filling it with oil and heating it and dropping them in that way so they should harden before hitting the bottom and keeping a much smoother batter, anyone any other suggestions.

The other thing i experimented with was rolling them in flour before dipping them in batter, seems to help but are there any bad effects from doing this??

Cheers

Cal

No problem tossing them in a little flour first. Put plenty of freshly ground black pepper and a bit of salt into the flour also. It is hard to avoid the sinking of the chicken in a small home fryer. There is more dept in a professional fryer. You can use a large spoon firstly dipped in the hot oil to lower the battered chicken into the oil. Also for a smoother batter use a greater percentage of corn flour and less regular flour.

Let us know how you get on. You come up with a good sweet and sour sauce yet?

Cal.

rubadub

I used to make thicker batter for onion rings, coat them and chill them in the freezer until almost frozen, this way you get no spikes when it falls in. The thicker it is the less it will disintegrate. I used to drop fresh batter in without the basket in place, if it stuck to the bottom I would leave it a few seconds and then gently scoop it off with a spoon, I would then fish it out and put it in the basket. I would do this in pairs until I had a basket of semi fried onion rings. Then put the full basket back in. This is what the chippers do and they should know their stuff.