Crispy fried chicken

Chinese dish of fried chicken

Cookbook: Crispy fried chicken

Traditional Chinese

炸子雞

Simplified Chinese

炸子鸡

Hanyu Pinyin

zhàzǐjī

Jyutping

zaa3zi2gai1

Literal meaning

fried chicken

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	zhàzǐjī
Bopomofo	ㄓㄚˋ ㄗˇ ㄐㄧ
IPA	[ʈʂâ tsɹ̩̀ tɕí]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	jajígāi
Jyutping	zaa3zi2gai1
IPA	[tsāːtsǐːkɐ́i]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJ	tsà-tsí-ke

Crispy fried chicken (simplified Chinese: 炸子鸡; traditional Chinese: 炸子雞) is a standard dish in the Cantonese cuisine of southern China and Hong Kong.^[1] The chicken is fried in such a way that the skin is extremely crunchy, but the white meat is relatively soft.^[2] This is done by first poaching the chicken in water with spices (e.g. star anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, Sichuan pepper, ginger, fennel, and scallions), drying it, coating with a syrup of vinegar and sugar, letting it dry thoroughly (which helps make the skin crispy) and deep-frying.^[3]

The dish is often served with two side dishes, a pepper salt (椒鹽) and prawn crackers (蝦片).^[4] The pepper salt, colored dark white to gray, is dry-fried separately in a wok.^[5] It is made of salt and Sichuan pepper.^[3]

Traditionally this dish is eaten at night. It is also one of the traditional chicken dishes served at Chinese weddings and other Asian weddings.^[2]^[6]

References

^ 39World. "39World.com Archived 2009-07-17 at the Wayback Machine." 炸子鸡. Retrieved on 2008-11-19.
^ ^a ^b Guangzhou Cuisine Archived 2009-01-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
^ ^a ^b Fessler, Stella Lau (1982). Chinese Poultry Cooking. New American Library. p. 50. ISBN 0-452-25365-9.
^ The Same Restaurant Twice Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
^ Pictorial Recipe: Cantonese Fried Chicken (炸子雞) Archived 2011-07-10 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
^ Macau Wedding Packages - Chinese Wedding Dinner Menus Archived 2009-04-13 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-10-20.

Chicken dishes

Stews, braises
and casseroles

Fried chicken

Roast and barbecue

Rice dishes

Pies and bread dishes

Salads

Chicken soup

Cuts and techniques

List of chicken dishes

v t e Cantonese cuisine
Main dishes	Bao yu Bird's nest soup Buddha's delight Cantonese seafood soup Chinese steamed eggs Congee Crispy fried chicken Dragon tiger phoenix Egg foo young Eight treasure duck Hot pot Lemon chicken Pork knuckles and ginger stew Seafood birdsnest Shark fin soup Snake bite chicken Soy sauce chicken Steam minced pork Subgum Suckling pig Sweet and sour pork White boiled shrimp White cut chicken Wonton noodles Yangzhou fried rice
Dim sum and yum cha	Almond tofu Beef tripe Cha siu bao Chicken feet Coconut bar Har gow Jian dui Jiaozi Lo mai gai Nian gao Ox-tongue pastry Rice noodle roll Shumai Spring roll Steamed meatball Swiss wing Taro cake Taro dumpling Tendon Tofu skin roll Turnip cake Water chestnut cake Yau gok Youtiao Zhaliang
Siu laap	Char siu Chinese sausage Lou mei Orange cuttlefish Roast goose Siu mei Siu yuk White cut chicken
Desserts and pastry	Almond biscuit Biscuit roll Deuk Deuk Tong Douhua Ginger milk curd Lo mai chi Malay sponge cake Mooncake Red bean cake Red bean soup Sausage bun Tang bu shuai Tong sui White sugar sponge cake
Condiments and spices	Fermented bean curd Five-spice powder XO sauce
Ingredients	Beef ball Black bean paste Chenpi Conpoy Fermented black beans Fish ball Fishcake Frog legs Garland chrysanthemum Kai-lan Mantis shrimp Ong choy Pig blood curd Pig's ear Rapeseed Saang mein Sea cucumber Shahe fen Shrimp roe noodles Spare ribs Suan cai Tofu skin Wonton Yi mein Youmian Zha cai
Others	Chinese herb tea Dried shredded squid Lou fo tong
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