Spicy Chicken Cutlet Rice

Back when I ordered takeout at noon, I always got chicken cutlet rice. But the meat never felt like enough, and it wasn’t even good meat. The cucumber inside was limp and soggy too. Worst of all was the sauce — literally a蜻蜓点水 dab, absolutely no flavor at all.

Then the scummy vendors, to save money on meat, would drizzle a little sauce over the rice so it tastes like something when you eat it. I posted a photo of my takeout on Twitter and got roasted hard. Everyone said it was garbage meat, garbage veggies, that cheap stuff is cooked in gutter oil, no question it’s junk food…

I know it’s junk food, but it’s cheap, and more importantly…

I actually think it tastes great!

So to avoid eating garbage, looks like I’ll have to make a bowl myself. Not just make it myself — I’ll also make up for the takeout’s shortchanged portions and customize the flavor to my own taste.

Making it is actually pretty simple. First, prepare a bowl of steamed rice — white rice as the base. Then julienne some cucumber (or if you’re lazy like me, just cut it into strips), and lay it on the rice.

Next, get the chicken cutlet ready.

I used chicken breast, cut into not-too-thick strips, marinated for about fifteen minutes with Shaoxing wine, pepper, salt, thirteen-spice, and light soy sauce. Beat two eggs. Dredge the marinated chicken in flour first, then coat it in egg wash, then a layer of breadcrumbs on the outside, and it’s ready for the oil.

Heat the oil to about 80% hot, then turn it down to medium-low and fry them one by one until golden. Remember to skim out the bits floating in the oil when you take them out, or it’ll mess up the golden color.

Once fried, you can tear it apart by hand, but I think a knife is faster — slice into strips or pieces and put it on the rice.

Finally, add a big spoonful of your favorite sauce. Usually it’s sweet chili sauce, but I prefer Taoyuan Jianmin’s chili oil paste.

Here’s the finished product. Give it a stir and dig in.

It actually tastes pretty good, better than takeout. And I did the math — it’s cheaper than takeout too…