Spicy Fried Chicken

A Sunday picnic without some old fashion fried chicken is just a complete bore. How else would one spoil themselves and their loved ones. Pick a healthy free range chicken and you will certainly notice the difference in the meat quality and overall taste. This recipe is pretty straight forward and the coconut cream is optional, but does add a tropical tone to the chicken.

Spicy Fried Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 chicken cut into medium size pieces (4 to 6 minutes cooking time roughly)
• 2 tablespoon coconut cream (optional)
• Salt
• 3 eggs beaten
• Canola oil for frying

For the Marinate

• 8 cloves garlic
• 1 shallot
• 1 inch ginger
• ¼ cm yellow ginger
• 6 to 8 dried chillies, seeded and soaked in water
• ½ teaspoon fennel seed
• ¼ teaspoon coriander seed
• ¼ cumin seed

For Coating

• 1 ½ cup flour
• ½ cup corn flour
• 2 cloves
• 1 star anise
• 1 inch cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon paprika powder
• 1 tablespoon white pepper
• Salt to taste

Direction

• Blend all the items for the marinate with a bit of water to form a fine smooth paste.
• In a big bowl, mix the chicken pieces with the paste mentioned above, salt and coconut cream thoroughly. Set it aside to marinate for 2 hours minimum (best 5 hours).
• In the meantime dry blend the clove, star anise, cinnamon and white pepper to form a fine powder.
• In a rectangle baking tray mix flour, corn flour, paprika powder, salt and the dry blended spice powder evenly. Set it aside for coating the chicken later.
• In another bowl, beat the eggs till light and smooth.
• Once chicken is ready (marinated enough), heat the deep fryer on medium heat.
• Take the chicken pieces, dip into the beaten eggs, coat generously with flour mix and place it carefully into the fryer.  
• Let•it fry for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Once chicken is golden and crispy, take the chicken out and drain it on a paper towel.
• Repeat the dipping, coating and frying of chicken pieces until all the chicken pieces are fried.

Serving Notes: Pack it for your Sunday picnic, brunch, or lunch. Serve by itself, or with home made chili or mayo sauce. Also goes well with rice mix, or to complement noodles.

Fish in Coconut Cream and Soya Sprout

Ginger, lemon grass, yellow ginger in coconut cream brings the best out of the sweetness of the coconut cream. Use any white fish for this recipe and it will turn out good and best served with red rice in my opinion. If you are not a big fan of the soya sprout, you can always use egg plant in replacement without making any changes to the recipe. There is no replacement to the fresh cocunut cream unfortunately. After all, fresh cocunut is crucial in delivering many benefits to our health, that it is totally worth looking for.

Fish in Coconut Cream

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 Slices of Red Snapper (or any other white fish)
• Some Soya Sprout ( washed and dried)
• 1 cm yellow ginger
• 2 cm ginger sliced thinly
• 2-3 cloves of garlic sliced thinly
• 2-3 lemon grass bruised in a mortar
• 2-3 small red chillies bruised in a mortar
• 2 shallots sliced thick and then bruised in mortar
• slices of lime peels 
• 2-3 cherry tomatoes, halved
• Salt to taste
• 2 to 3 tablespoon cooking oil

Directions

• Heat the pan with some oil and pan fry the fish until both sides are golden brown (skin side first). Once done, set the fish aside in the serving dish.
• Keep the same oil for the next step.
• Add the shallots, garlic, ginger, lemon grass, yellow ginger, chillies and the lime peels to the oil and cook till translucent.
• Add the tomatoes with a bit of salt to break it down in the heat. 
• Once tomatoes are soft add 1 cup of water and let the mixture simmer for couple of minutes.
• Once mixture starts to simmer add the coconut cream.
• Wait for the first simmer, add salt.
• Turn off the heat and add the soya sprout.
• Spoon the sauce onto the pan fried fish and its ready for serving.
• Garnish with fried ginger and garlic.

Happy Cooking!