“If you want to enjoy a plate of lemon chicken all to yourself, who are we to argue?” write Lin Jie Kong and Jennifer Wong at the beginning of their new book, Chopsticks or Fork?. It’s a tribute to the Chinese restaurants found around Australia, spinning off from their six-part ABC series of the same name. The two have roamed the country, discovering the stories of the people behind these restaurants that have kept locals and visitors fed for decades, as well as detailing the history of Chinese migration to Australia and the food that has resulted. Each restaurant has also shared a clutch of their most popular recipes, from spring rolls and dim sims to sweet and sour barramundi, combination fried rice and deep-fried ice-cream.
This recipe is from Gawler Palace, a restaurant in Gawler, South Australia’s oldest country town. Lemon chicken is one of the venue’s most popular dishes, a fact that bemuses owner Vinh Chiem, who runs Gawler Palace with his family.
“It’s so monotonous in colour. I don’t think it’s even worthy of putting on Instagram,” he tells the book’s authors. Chiem puts its popularity down to the salty chicken fusing with the sweet and tangy lemon sauce.
“While many people think that lemon chicken must surely be a local invention, it’s actually been served in Hong Kong since the 1960s,” write Kong and Wong. “This tangy dish is still available today in Hong Kong’s old-school diners, served with rice, or even pasta. Gawler Palace’s version is renowned for being particularly crispy and tangy. The crispiness of the chicken comes from frying it twice, and the extreme lemon flavour comes from three sources of lemon goodness. So now when life gives you lemons, make lemon chicken.”
Gawler Palace’s lemon chicken
Serves 4–6 as part of a banquet (or 1 as a main)
Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus 30 minutes refrigeration
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
1 chicken breast, cut into 1cm-thick slices
½ tsp salt
½ tsp MSG
White pepper, to taste
A few drops sesame oil
2 tbsp cornflour, for coating
Vegetable or canola oil, for deep-frying
Sesame seeds, to garnish
Lemon wedges, to serve
Batter
1 cup cornflour
¼ cup self-raising flour
Lemon sauce
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup sugar
⅔ cup water
5 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp salt
3 fresh celery leaves
2 tbsp lemon essence
⅓ cup lemon cordial
Yellow food colouring, optional
Cornflour slurry
1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp water
Method
In a large bowl, combine chicken with salt, MSG, pepper and a few drops of sesame oil. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To make the batter, in a bowl combine cornflour and self-raising flour, then slowly add water until consistency coats the back of a spoon.
Lightly coat the chicken in cornflour, shake off any excess, and then dip it into the batter.
Fill a large wok or saucepan approximately two-thirds full with oil. Slowly bring to 180°C over medium–high heat. This might take up to 10 minutes. Fry the chicken until it takes on a hint of colour. Remove and set aside to cool and drain. Continue to heat the oil until it reaches 200°C and then return the chicken and fry until it is golden.
Remove the chicken from the oil and drain on a wire rack.
To make the lemon sauce, combine the lemon sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat. Remove and discard celery leaves.
Add cornflour slurry to the lemon sauce and mix to thicken.
To serve, chop the chicken into 3cm-wide pieces and top with lemon sauce. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with lemon wedges.
Chopsticks or Fork? *(Hardie Grant) by Jennifer Wong and Lin Jie Kong is available online and in bookstores from September 3.*
