Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts (with skin) cut into three pieces each OR six drumsticks
- 3 cups water with 1½ tsp salt (also known as brine)
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup cornstarch
- ½ tsp oregano
- ½ tsp MSG (a taste enhancer commonly known as Chinese salt or Ajino Moto)
- ½ tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- Oil or ghee for deep frying (ghee works better)
Method
- Soak the chicken for about 8-10 hours (ideally) in brine and put it in the refrigerator. I have made the chicken after soaking it in brine for just half an hour and it gets good results too.
- In a bowl, mix together all-purpose flour, cornstarch, oregano, MSG, paprika, black and white pepper, and salt; mix these well so that the ‘dry batter’ is nice and consistent.
- Take out the chicken from the brine and dry each piece using a towel.
- Dip a piece of chicken into the buttermilk (or Laban) ensuring all its sides are properly covered, take out the piece and let all the residue drip back into the bowl.
- Dip this piece immediately into the dry batter, making sure to coat all sides evenly; give the chicken a slight shake to remove the excess batter before setting it aside on a platter.
- Repeat steps 4 and 5 till all the pieces have been coated.
- Let all the pieces air-dry for about 5-10 minutes so that the coating is hard and dry; this will ensure that the oil doesn’t splatter once you put the pieces in for frying.
- In a deep pan, add oil or ghee and heat it; the oil has to be just the right temperature and to ensure that, add a piece of bread into the oil and it should be brown in about 50 seconds. If you have a candy thermometer, the temperature has to be around 180° to 190° centigrade.
- Carefully start putting in the chicken pieces one at a time, skin side down (as it takes slightly longer to cook); make sure not to overcrowd the pan and leave some room for the pieces to breathe (or not – pun intended)
- Flip the pieces halfway through the cooking process so that the other side gets some crunch and colour too.
- Fry the chicken for about 7 -10 minutes, till it has a crisp golden brown cover.
- Take all the pieces out on a paper towel to drain the excess grease.
- Serve immediately with a side of French fries, chilli garlic sauce and mayonnaise.
Bookmarks