Ingredients
1000 g (about 2.2 lbs) chicken, 25 g egg whites, 25 g spinach.
Seasonings
30 g Shaoxing wine, 3 g salt, 10 g scallion and Sichuan pepper paste, 25 g cornstarch, 1500 g (about 3 1/3 cups) peanut oil.
Instructions
1. Remove the sinew from chicken tenderloin, pound and then mince into a fine paste. Mix in Shaoxing wine, salt, minced scallion and Sichuan pepper paste, and starch until well combined, then add egg whites and stir evenly to form a chicken paste. Wash the spinach and cut it lengthwise into 5 cm (about 2-inch) long thin shreds.
2. Cut the pork caul fat into 6 cm long by 2 cm wide pieces, place the chicken mixture on top and roll into 0.5 cm diameter rolls, insert a bamboo skewer about 3 cm into one end leaving a 1.5 cm handle, dip the rolls completely in the egg white foam batter, then gently place them into oil heated to about 30% of its smoking point (around 90°C/195°F), use chopsticks to gently turn them, once they firm up and float, remove them from the oil, pull out the bamboo skewers, and you have "Silkworm Chrysalis Chicken."
3. Briefly deep-fry the spinach, then remove and spread it evenly on a flat plate.
4. Place the silkworm pupa chicken into a wok of oil heated to about 70% hot (350°F/175°C) and deep-fry until it turns apricot yellow, then remove and place on top of the shredded spinach. This dish is tender, fragrant, rich, and delightfully soft and fluffy.