Crunchy chicken and chips, stir fried veg and a sweet, savoury and aromatic spice blend. This spice bag & curry sauce is a fantastic, quick and cheap fakeaway! This can be made as a cheats version, using frozen chicken, or you can make the chicken from scratch. It jsut depends on how much effort you’d like to make! Check out my Korean fried chicken recipe for other fried chicken options!

What Is A Spice Bag?

The spice bag is, in culinary terms, a very new and young creation. It originating around 2006 in Ireland, specifically in Dublin. Supposedly, the Sunflower takeaway can take credit for creating this takeaway favourite. According to some research done by a reporter, they created the spice bag following constant requests from friends and customers.

A spice bag is essentially just chips and deep fried chicken. This is then stir fried with vegetables, usually onions, peppers and chillies. A unique spice blend of five spice, Sechuan pepper, garlic poweder, chilli flakes, salt, white pepper, MSG, and sugar is applied too. This is then served with curry sauce. It effectively combines many of the favourite things from British and Irish Chinese food into one dish, which is then served in a paper bag!

The popularity of the spice bag has now grown massively. It is to be found on most Chnese takeaway menus around Ireland, and beyond into the UK as well. There are appreciation groups in place for it and it was voted Irelands favourite takeaway dish on JustEat in 2020!

My Recipe

The most important part of this recipe is the spice blend. As mentioned above, the ingredients required are numerous, but most are very readily available! The only ones you are unlikel to have in your cupboards already are Sechuan peppercorns and MSG. In my opinion, these are absolutely necessary. Sechuan peppercorns give a lovely aroma, slight heat and uniquely numbing sensation. MSG is also the thing that gives that authentic, savoury and moreish flavour. Both of these can be found in Asian supermarkets or online very easily and are well worth having in the house!

I make my own curry sauce on demand. It may not surprise you to hear that it is not a highly technical culinary wonder, but actually quite simple to make! I recommend you do the sme. To do this, you make a simple roux from butter and flour, add chicken stock to create a thick sauce and add mild curry powder to give it the flavour and colour you want. It’s eally very simple!

You can make this with frozen chicken if you want to be quick and easy, or you can fry your own chicken. If you are frying your own chicken, marinate it in soy, salt, white pepper and MSG for 30 minutes. Add an egg, dredge in corn flour and fry in oil in a deep, heavy bottomed pan.

Tips for Deep Frying at Home

My first and most important tip is not to fill your pan over half way with oil. Any contents you add to the pan will cause the oil to displace, but it will also begin to bubble and expand. Hot oil overflowing onto your hob is not only a pain to clean up, but potentially very dangerous. Hot oil coming into contact with a gas burner could cause a grease fire, which can be hard to put out! If in doubt, add the chicken in batches and observe the impact on the oil level.

Secondly, ensure your cooking space is well ventilated. Using the extractor fan can often be enough, but opening a window can help. When the oil is heated to frying temperatures, it can cause some to vapourise into the air. This can cause irritation of the eyes and nose.

Finally, you can check if the oil is hot enough by using a thermometer and checking for 180°C. If you don’t have one, dip a wooden spoon into the oil. You’d expect to see some bubbles form gently on the spoon. If there are no bubbles, the oil is not hot enough. If there are bubbles forming aggressively, reduce the heat and let the oil cool slightly!

Homemade Spice Bag With Curry Sauce

Crunchy chicken and chips, stir fried veg and a sweet, savoury and aromatic spice blend. This spice bag & curry sauce is a fantastic, quick and cheap fakeaway!

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Servings: 2 people

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: British, Chinese, Fakeaway, Irish

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

If Making the Chicken From Scratch

• 300 g Chicken Thighs
• 2 tsp Light Soy Sauce
• 0.25 tsp Salt
• 0.25 tsp White Pepper
• 0.25 tsp MSG
• 1 Egg
• Cornflour To coat

For the Spice Mix

• 1 tbsp Five Spice
• 1 tbsp Garlic Powder
• 1 tbsp Sechuan Peppercorns
• 2 tsp Chilli Flakes
• 0.5 tsp White Sugar
• 0.5 tsp Salt
• 0.5 tsp White Pepper
• 0.5 tsp MSG

For the Whole Ingredients

• 300 g Fried Chicken Frozen or fresh as directed.
• 300 g Steaak Cut Chips Frozen
• 1 Red Pepper
• 1 Red Onion Small
• 2 Spring Onions
• 2 Green Chillies

For the Curry Sauce

• 2 tsp Butter
• 2 tsp Flour
• 300 ml Chicken Stock
• 1.5 tbsp Mild Curry Powder

Method

 

If Making the Chicken From Scratch

1. Add the oil to a large pan and heat over a medium high heat.
2. Cut the chicken in to bite size chungs, about 2cm by 2cm, and add to a mixing bowl.
3. Add the marinade ingredients and mix well. Set aside for 15 minutes to marinate.
4. After the meat has marinated, crack in the egg and mix well.
5. Fill a large bowl with corn flour and add the chicken pieces in batches to toss and coat. Set aside into a sieve to remove excess flour.
6. Ensure the oil is hot enough. It should read 180° on a food thermometer or you can test with a wooden spoon. Putting the tip into the oil should create small, steady bubbles. Large and violent bubbles means the oil is too hot.
7. Add the chicken into the oil piece by piece. Fry for around 4 minutes, until browned. Keep the chicken moving the prevent it from sticking together or to the pan, and to ensure it fries evenly all over.
8. Remove the chicken from the oil and drain in the sieve to let the excess oil drip off. Heat a wok over medium high heat.

Making the Curry Sauce

1. Add the butter to a pan over medium heat and melt.
2. Once melted, add the flour and mix to form a roux.
3. Pour the stock in in small amounts, mixing well to combine into a thick sauce.
4. Add the curry powder and mix. Set aside.

Making the Spice Bag

1. Cook the chips in the oven as per instructions. Cook chicken pieces in the oven if using frozen, or as per the instructions above if you're maing it fresh.
2. Grind the sechuan peppercorns and mix in a bowl with the other spice ingredients.
3. Roughly chop the pepper, thinly slice the onion, chilli and spring onion and separate the whites and greens of the spring onions.
4. Heat a wok over very high heat and add some cooking oil. Add the onions and spring onions an stir fry for 1 minute.
5. Add the peppers and chillies and stir fry for another minute.
6. Add in the chicken and chips, pour over the spice mix and toss well to combine thoroughly.
7. Serve alongside the curry sauce and enjoy!