Prepare ahead the mango-onion relish. Choose a fresh mango that is almost at a ripened stage, the outer part will feel firm to the touch, the skin a gold yellow. To cut open, hold the mango firmly with one hand, as it stands lengthwise, the pointed part at the bottom. From the center where the pit is, slice the cheeks off the fruit. Take out the flesh with a sharp knife. Slice the nearly ripe mangoes in slim slivers, about 2 or 3 inches long. Mix the mangoes with sliced red onions. Season with salt. Keep covered in a bowl in the refrigerator till ready to serve with the cooked fried chicken.
Using a sharp butcher’s knife or cleaver, chop the chicken in small, thin slivers, about 2 inches long, and half an inch wide. If using chicken with bones, try to use only the meat part or as little of the bone as possible. This will help deep fry the chicken very quickly if there is hardly any bone. Marinate the chicken pieces with soy sauce and calamansi or lemon juice for 30 minutes.Add salt and pepper to the flour. Separately in a bowl, prepare the chicken pieces by dredging in the flour, coating each piece well all over.
In a large, deep skillet or wok, add the cooking oil. Let the oil’s temperature get very hot (but not burning) to about 350 F degrees. The heat of the oil affects the crispness of the chicken. If you have no thermometer, the oil heats up over medium high in about 5 to 6 minutes. (Note: do not leave the skillet unattended while waiting for it to heat up, oil may burn if too hot).
Once the cooking oil is the right temperature in the skillet, add the chicken pieces a few batches at a time to ensure crispness. The chicken pieces will cook thoroughly in about 10 to 12 minutes for this amount indicated. Use a turner and turn the chicken around for even frying.
When cooked and crisp, move the chicken pieces to a platter with parchment paper or paper towels. Drain the pieces to remove excess oil, for a few minutes.
Serve chicken hot and crisp with the side relish of mangoes-onions, boiled jasmine white rice and sriracha sauce.
Cook's comments: When I cooked this recipe for the blog post, I had some chicken wings in addition to the thighs. I decided to use the wings, too and chopped them slim and thin with a sharp cleaver. If you prefer not to have any bone parts in the fried chicken, use boneless breast or thighs.
*Hello, Friends! Please DO NOT LIFT OR PLAGIARIZE my original recipe. All the images and content on this blog are COPYRIGHT PROTECTED and owned by my media company Besa-Quirino LLC. This means BY LAW you are NOT allowed to copy, scrape, lift, frame, plagiarize or use my photos and recipe content I wrote, on your website,books, films, television shows or videos without my permission. If you want to republish this recipe or content on another website, video, news article,or media outlets mentioned above please ASK my permission, re-write it in your own words and simply link back to this blog to give proper attribution. It’s the legal thing to do. Thank you. Email me at [email protected]