Chaozhou popcorn chicken

Cut the chicken breast into bite-sized pieces.

Marinate the chicken with salt, onion powder, grated garlic and grated ginger.

Add the egg white only.

Add the fermented bean curd, its soaking liquid, the satay sauce and the apple juice; the bean curd takes extra effort to mix in.

Add the all-purpose flour and mix thoroughly; set aside.

Substitute coating: stir cornstarch into water until it stops taking more, crumble the resulting dough into even small bits and mix them back into dry cornstarch.

Put the coarse sweet potato starch in a mason jar, drop in five to eight pieces of chicken at a time, lid on and shake, then shake off the excess. About six to eight rounds.

Rest the coated chicken on a tray 15 minutes so the coating bonds and does not fall off in the fryer.

Heat oil in the wok and fry the chicken over medium low 5 to 6 minutes per batch, without crowding, moving the pieces so they do not stick, until golden brown. About three batches.

Drain on paper towels and scoop the crumbs out with a fine sieve between batches.

Do not double fry: the pieces are small and a second fry dries the meat out.

Sprinkle with Jiao Yan seasoning to taste; dipping sauce is not the usual service in China.

Optional dipping sauce: stir Lao Gan Ma and minced garlic until fragrant, add honey, lemon juice, soy sauce and hoisin sauce.

Stir constantly over medium low; once bubbling, drop to low and reduce until thick like syrup.