Recipe by Route 79
Description[]
If you were to do a search on the Internet for "Southern Fried Chicken" you would probably find all sorts of controversial debate about the history of this dish - and how it should be cooked. It seems that it probably originated in the southern USA (obviously) - but by Scottish settlers in the 19th century. Whereas the English generally preferred to boil, bake or roast their Chicken - the Scottish apparently used to like to fry theirs.
Anyway - regardless of the history or the method - here is the Route 79 21st Century London Indian style method of cooking KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). It's really simple and only takes around 40 minutes in total.
Ingredients[]
Ingredients
These are the ingredients: For the batter:
- 6 to 8 chicken thighs - skinless (make sure they are skinless and are thighs - see a previous recipe on chicken for the reasons why.)
- a bit of plain flour (say a couple of tablespoons)
- same amount of cornmeal (coarse version - otherwise known as polenta)
- and whatever spices you have at hand - e.g. garam masala, tandoori masala - whatever.
- some salt and pepper
- one egg - and a glug of milk
Directions[]
What you do first is to prepare the coating for the Chicken - which is in two parts: the spicy flour is just a combining of the flour and cornmeal with a mixing in of a couple of heaped teaspoons of spices each - e.g. garam masala, tandoori masala, chilli powder - and then a teaspoon or two of salt - and some crushed black pepper too. The second part of the coating is the liquid bit - just beat an egg and add the glug of milk and beat it some more.
Then you simply coat the Chicken pieces in the egg/milk mixture. By the way - you don't need to do this at all - I just find that it comes out better. If you do this - then don't be afraid to get your hands "dirty" - just pick up the Chicken pieces with your fingers and turn them around a few times in a dish to ensure that they are well coated.
The next step is to coat the pieces in the spicy flour. Once again - use your hand: pick up each Chicken piece - dip it into the spicy flour mix bowl - turning over several times and then arrange onto a flat plate ready to be fried in the next stage. Whilst you are coating the Chicken you might want to heat the oil (4 or 5 tablespoons) in the largest frying pan you've got. Also put the oven on 200 Celsius - so that it preheats whilst the Chicken is frying.
Now add the Chicken pieces to the frying pan - if the oil is hot - the pieces should start sizzling stratight away - and some of the Chicken juices may start to evaporate - that's fine. Just let them stay still in the frying pan for around 5 minutes - and then turn them over - and leave them frying for another 5 minutes.
Then finish the Chicken off by taking them out of the frying pan and putting them into the hot oven - for a further 25 minutes or so - turning halfway again.
