#FrannyCooks : Ximending Chicken Pops DIY Kit

Allow me to make yet another fearless forecast -- I smell another food trend coming our way and it's in the form of these nice corrugated boxes that's filled with all sorts of ingredients that's packed and carefully sealed. DIY Kits are here and it means allowing all of us to take our cooking/baking skills to the next level! Since we all have to stay home and to keep ourselves safe from the virus, why not recreate some of your restaurant favorites and enjoy these with the family.

I've actually been cooking and baking more since the start of the quarantine and I have to say that I have became more bold and creative in the kitchen. Back then, I'd stick to the usual baked goodies, easy pasta dishes, stir-fries and steamed dishes. For the past weeks, I've learned to make more seafood dishes, cook steak properly, bake a variety of treats and just tonight, I made Galbi Jjim -- a dish that I've been planning to make for months. 

A few weeks ago, I received my first ever DIY Kit -- it's from J who started this new business called Ximending. As the name refers to a famous touristy place in Taiwan, Ximending sells Taiwanese Chicken Pops and instead of selling them cooked and ready to eat, it's sold in a form of a DIY kit (Php. 750) that allows you to cook your own chicken pops where you can enjoy it crisp and freshly cooked in the comforts of your home. I love that each ingredients are cleanly packed and all you have to do is to open it up, arrange them into small bowls and just follow the easy process. 

So what's inside the box? You get 3 main items:

- frozen chicken pops

- Ximending coating

- your own choice of flavored powder 

The steps are super easy: 

1) Defrost the chicken pops thoroughly. I personally like thawing is slowly in the fridge overnight. 

2) Pour the Ximending coating in a big bowl. I think it's a mix of flour and breadcrumbs as I noticed the different texture it has. 

3) Cover each chicken pop with the coating and arrange them in a clean plate. 

4) Prepare your pan with very hot oil and deep-fry each chicken pop until it turns golden brown. Drain the excess oil. 

5)  Gently toss the chicken pops into the flavored powder and enjoy! 

So easy right? You don't even need any other ingredients apart from the ones provided + cooking oil. If you want to jazz it up a bit, I also suggest frying some basil leaves and mix it with the chicken pops to give it a very good aroma. 

The amount of chicken pops was pretty generous, I really didn't noticed it at first but as I was coating each piece with the flour mixture, I realized that one pack has probably 30-50 chicken pops in there so that's good for 3-4 pax to enjoy. We didn't even had to prepare any dip as the chicken pops were so flavorful on it's own. By the way, I did two versions -- plain and lemon. My twins surprisingly loved the lemon flavored pops! Awesome tastebuds they got, huh? 

Check out the video that I've prepared above to see how easy you can prepare your Ximending Taiwanese Chicken Pops. 

To order, check out Ximending PH on Instagram or message them through these numbers : 09178198687 / 09178359276.