Chiuchow Garden’s Chicken with Crisp Spinach

This simple but very satisfying dish is a great favourite of mine. I first sampled it many years ago at the Chiuchow Garden restaurant in Kowloon. Savoury stir-fried chicken is served with a mound of crisp deep-fried chilli leaves. Robust chicken thighs are used here because they can take longer cooking than breast meat and can also absorb more and richer flavours. The chicken is finished with a generous topping of freshly ground black peppercorns.

In this recipe, I have substituted