Taiwanese crispy popcorn chicken (Yansu ji)

1. Cut the chicken thigh fillets into 3 cm cubes and crush the garlic.

2. Mix the chicken with the garlic, soy sauce, Shaoxing rice wine, sugar, half the spice blend and the white pepper and marinate for at least 30 minutes.

3. Coat the pieces one by one thoroughly in the tapioca starch and leave for 5 minutes until the coating is slightly moistened.

4. Heat the oil to 170 °C in a smaller, deep pan and fry the chicken in batches for 4-5 minutes, then remove; heat the oil to 190 °C and fry the chicken for another minute until crisp.

5. After the last batch drop the basil leaves into the hot oil for 5-10 seconds until translucent and crisp – careful, it spatters!

6. Drain the chicken on kitchen paper, sprinkle with the salt, the remaining spice blend and the chilli flakes, toss with the crispy basil and serve immediately.

Tip: A favourite of Taiwan's night markets, eaten from a paper bag with a toothpick. The real recipe calls for Thai basil – if you can find it, use that; the tapioca starch gives the typical knobbly, crunchy coating.