Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Better fried chicken
Start with this:
You don’t have to use this mix, but it was mighty tasty. Below, I’ll make a few suggestions for alternative spices mixes in case you can’t find the Shan mix (or don’t want to get it mail order).
It also helps to have one of these,
one of these,
and of course a bunch of these.
I used six thighs, but leg-thigh combos, a whole cut-up fryer, or even a whole (small) chicken would work. For that matter, there’s no reason you couldn’t use this approach with a whole fish. You would have to play with cooking times, but the results would be spectacular.
So what’s the trick? Marinate, steam, and fry. Simple, really.
1. Prepare the following marinade:
1/2 tablespoon of crushed garlic
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
juice from one to two lemons
1/2 package of Shan Lahori Charga spice mix.
Don’t have the spice mix? Not to worry. If I didn’t have it but wanted to imitate it, I’d do something like this:
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon mace (or nutmeg, or allspice)
1/4 teaspoon cardomom
Honestly, any lemon juice-based marinade would likely work. Should you want a more Southern-style mixture, use garlic, onion powder, salt, black pepper, red pepper, oregano, and thyme.
2. Cut deep slashes in your chicken — for example, three to four slashes (through skin and meat, to the bone) per thigh. Combine with marinade in a bowl, working the marinade into the slashes. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight.
3. Steam your chicken for 20-30 minutes. Transfer to a plate to drain.
4. Heat oil in a wok until it is hot but not smoking. Carefully transfer chicken to the hot oil and fry on each side about 2-3 minutes, until golden brown.
This was a little dryer than I had expected it to be, but the result is much less greasy than batter-based fried chicken recipes, and the frying is so much easier. Your chicken is already cooked, after all; your only goal is to crisp up the skin. Depending on your oil temperature, this can happen quite rapidly.
Maybe some of you are familiar with the marinate, steam, and fry technique, but this one was new to me. What a great discovery!
Okay, gotta go watch Escape from LA. I’ve always loved Bruce Campbell as the Surgeon General of Beverly Hills.
D.
Sounds delicious, but to me nothing ever tasted better than real Southern Fried Chicken like my grandmother made, not the crappy deep fried KFC version. I used to help her make it. I got to shake the chicken in the big brown paper sack like in this recipe: http://southernfood.about.com/od/friedchicken/r/bl90821c.htm My grandmother didn’t dip the chicken in milk, she rinsed it in water. Of course, the chicken we ate back then was fresh from a real farm, and that, too, makes a huge difference. But it was the slow cooking that made it so good.
That’s the sort of recipe I’ve followed in the past, and I can never quite get it right — I’m often burning the chicken, or else the juices inside run red. The steam/fry method appeals to me because it’s more foolproof. Ideal recipe for a fool 😉
My mother could never do it right either. It was always either burnt, raw or greasy. We were glad when she quit trying. My mother was a fascinating, beautiful, remarkable, accomplished woman whom we adored but who never had time to learn how to cook. Fortunately we had grand formal Sunday luncheon every week at my grandparents. My grandmother was a dear lady and in my memory the best cook I have ever known. She always prepared enough for an army so we always had her leftovers to help tide us over until the next Sunday. The only thing I liked that Mother could cook was Campbell’s soup. I miss her and my grandmother.
I wanna be a grandpa like your grandma, remembered into another century for my feasts.
Jake, make me a grandpa!
(Okay, so he’s only 14 . . .)