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There seems to be two schools of thought when it comes to cooking Chinese chicken balls. Some chefs pre-cook the raw chicken in simmering water (in a similar way to BIR take-away chefs) before coating and frying, others just coat the raw chicken batter and deep fry.

Which is the most authentic method used in Chinese restaurants? The only reason I can think of pre-cooking is to eliminate any risk of the chicken being undercooked, while the latter would allow for a more flavoursome chicken by using a marinade etc.

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    what's "Chinese chicken balls" ? what"s "BIR" ?
    – Max
    Aug 10, 2020 at 16:31
  • Western "Chinese" food varies quite a bit regionally. Chinese-American food near me (Boston) even has some dramatic variations 10 miles North of the city compared to 10 miles South. Updating your question to include some geographic details will be great hints to helping make your question answerable.
    – AMtwo
    Aug 11, 2020 at 1:35
  • I'm not 100% sure what "Chinese chicken balls" are... Are they similar to Chinese-American "chicken fingers"? (like these) ?
    – AMtwo
    Aug 11, 2020 at 1:39
  • "Which is the most authentic method used in Chinese restaurants?" None. CCB are totally unknow to chinese people (which whom I had done a small "chinese cousine in america" tour) and not served (or known) in chinese restaurants outside Americas.
    – SZCZERZO KŁY
    Aug 11, 2020 at 8:44
  • Don't know what they are called outside the UK, but this is a good example: youtu.be/5azRj_8iogg BIR=British Indian Restaurant.
    – Greybeard
    Aug 13, 2020 at 16:51

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I think this is a heavily westernized version of, em, Chinese "chicken balls" (鸡球 ji qiu). The more authentic version comes without the thick batter; instead it's just slightly coated with potato starch. Also, they're not served directly as a dish, but instead used as an intermediate ingredient; you can make, for example, kung pao chicken balls, sweet and sour chicken balls, or spicy chicken balls. (That should explain the lack of batter.)

But in any case, no, you should definitely not precook the chicken. With or without the batter, the deep frying is enough to cook the chicken. If your chicken is precooked, then it is going to become overcooked.

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