Some call them chicken knee, some call it soft bones, some chicken cartilage but yes you had seen it right, it’s that part of the chicken in between the joints of the chicken drumstick and thigh, hence technically that is the knee and yes, we eat them and it is amazing. Before being freaked out don’t think this is just the knee alone, basically it is just a section of the meat cut, around 60% of it is chicken meat coming from the thigh or drumstick area. It prepared by carefully severing that knee section so it does not cut a part of the real bone and only get the edible tender part that is connected to the muscle. I guess most of us eat this part unknowingly on fried chickens especially when you are nibbling on that bone, common admit it.
Last week we had this on a Chinese restaurant in Albany then when I visited the Asian shop the other day, it was the first time I saw this being sold, luckily that was the case otherwise I will have to buy a ton of whole leg sections to have 500 grams of meat. I grabbed a kilogram as they might not sell them again, planned to cook it in two separate occasions.
Like most fried chicken this is quite easy to prepare, simple ingredients and a wok filled with oil is all you need. Its faster to cook as well as it is smaller, smaller space to coat giving it extra crunch than the usual Southern Style Chicken. If you are still not convinced try them first at you nearest dim sum restaurant, it’s like a smaller chicken nugget with a bit co crunch, don’t worry there are not tiny bones to spit out like your chicken feet which needs a bit more skill to eat with finesse.
In a container that you can cover mix together flour, cornstarch and white pepper.
In a bowl combine all chicken ingredients apart from the oil. Mix it well.
Put oil on wok, fill it up enough for deep frying then heat to 180C.
While oil is heating, place chicken knees, one piece at a time in the container filled with the flour mixture. Do not over crowd and do it in just one layer. Cover the container then mix it but shaking it up, until chicken is well covered.
Set chicken aside, do it with the remaining uncoated chicken.
Deep fry chicken pieces, dropping them one by one into the hot oil, cook for 6-8 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and golden in colour. Remove from wok, drain of excess oil then serve.
