Early this month my aunt came home visiting us for a few days. During that time my husband and I together cooked her some tasty South Indian food that we eat regularly. Of course we also took her around the neighbourhood and at the excuse of treating a guest we ourselves got to eat in our favourite restaurants.
When it comes to fast food we haven't been able to find the popular brands in our immediate vicinity. So knowing my husband's liking I set out to tryKFC Fried Chicken and McDonald's French Fries in my very own kitchen as a weekend dinner.
How I did it?
I searched over blogs and youtube to find the right recipes for the two dishes. Some even claimed to reveal the hidden secret. Eventually I mixed up a couple of versions in tandem with the ingredients I had with me. So the following are the steps to follow:
2. In a deep dish bring water to boil and then blanch the potatoes in it for 5 min.
3. Drain the water and cool the potatoes in ice water to stop the cooking process.
4. Next dry the potatoes either on a paper napkins or a towel.
5. Place the potatoes in a dish, cover it and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
6. Bring them out just at the time of cooking. You do not need them to come to room temperature.
7. When the oil heats nicely deep fry the potatoes for a few minutes till they becomes slightly yellow in colour. Drain on paper towels to remove the excess oil.
8. For serving season with salt.
KFC Fried Chicken
1. Wash the skinned chicken (I used 9 drumsticks), drain the water and pat dry. Marinate in 3 tbsp ginger-garlic paste for 30 minutes.
2. To prepare bread crumbs dry 3 bread slices in an oven at 300 F for 15 minutes (if bread is fresh), turning them over every 5 minutes. Allow them to cool and blend in a mixer/processor to a coarse texture. Keep aside.
3. In a large flat dish mix together 1 cup all-purpose flour (maida in India), 2 tsp chilli powder, 2 tsp pepper powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and 2 tsp salt. Then add the prepared bread crumbs to it and give it a mix.
4. In another large bowl whisk 1 egg and add 1/2 cup milk to it.
5. At the time of cooking first put the oil to heat.
6. While the oil heats, start coating the chicken legs by first dipping in the egg and milk mixture and then rolling it around in the dry flour-bread crumb mixture. Keep them aside in a plate.
7. To know the oil is ready add a little wet flour and see if it immediately rises to the top. When this happens fry the coated chicken pieces in batches. If they are not completely covered in oil then you will need to turn them around to let them cook from all sides.
8. Cook the chicken for 15 minutes to get the (slightly dark) brown colour (but not burnt) on the outside.
9. Drain on paper towels to remove excess oil.
10. Serve with French fries on the side.
Notes on cooking technique.
Regarding the French fries, I think I blanched the potatoes for nearly 7-8 minutes and so they became softer than needed. So the 5 minutes time in the above recipe is just correct. Ideally one is supposed to pack the potatoes in air tight bags and freeze them to make them crunchier. But as I didn't have such bags and the right containers, I refrigerated them instead. Further, I only fried the potatoes for about 2 minutes as they were already quite cooked and so they didn't get that yellow. As an alternative one could perhaps add turmeric powder to bring out that colour.
In my "research" I saw two types on recipes for fried chicken. One in which the skin was removed from the chicken and another in which it was kept intact. I happened to have both types of chicken legs. What I found was that keeping the skin on made the fried chicken more crunchier. For making the dry mixture I used 2 cups of all-purpose flour but with the same measure of spices as in the above recipe. As a result I needed to season the fried chicken with some extra salt on the top. Further, even after coating all the 9 chicken pieces I had half of the flour mixture remaining. So, the 1 cup of flour that I have mentioned in the steps is the right quantity to take.
Though I made bread crumbs by myself, it was because I had forgotten to buy it from the supermarket. You could very well use the ready made ones and save some time. From what I have read if one were to also mix in some corn flakes along with the bread crumbs, it would make the fried chicken still crunchier. I definitely plan to make that addition in my next trial. Most recipes add garlic and onion powders into the flour. But as I didn't have either of the two I instead marinated the chicken in ginger-garlic paste. You could also add herbs like oregano and sage leaves if you have them in your kitchen cabinet.
My husband's verdict.
He loved the look of the fried chicken. Though he had the KFC taste in mind, he still liked it. He felt it would be nicer to have it during evenings instead of as a large dinner meal. As long as he thought it was a decent attempt it is encouraging enough to try it again.
Here is the photo resulting from all that frying heat:
When it comes to fast food we haven't been able to find the popular brands in our immediate vicinity. So knowing my husband's liking I set out to try
How I did it?
I searched over blogs and youtube to find the right recipes for the two dishes. Some even claimed to reveal the hidden secret. Eventually I mixed up a couple of versions in tandem with the ingredients I had with me. So the following are the steps to follow:
For McDonald's French Fries
1. Peel the skins from 3 long (Russet) potatoes and cut them lengthwise, like typical shapes of fries. Soak them in water for 5 minutes to remove the starch.2. In a deep dish bring water to boil and then blanch the potatoes in it for 5 min.
3. Drain the water and cool the potatoes in ice water to stop the cooking process.
4. Next dry the potatoes either on a paper napkins or a towel.
5. Place the potatoes in a dish, cover it and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
6. Bring them out just at the time of cooking. You do not need them to come to room temperature.
7. When the oil heats nicely deep fry the potatoes for a few minutes till they becomes slightly yellow in colour. Drain on paper towels to remove the excess oil.
8. For serving season with salt.
1. Wash the skinned chicken (I used 9 drumsticks), drain the water and pat dry. Marinate in 3 tbsp ginger-garlic paste for 30 minutes.
2. To prepare bread crumbs dry 3 bread slices in an oven at 300 F for 15 minutes (if bread is fresh), turning them over every 5 minutes. Allow them to cool and blend in a mixer/processor to a coarse texture. Keep aside.
3. In a large flat dish mix together 1 cup all-purpose flour (maida in India), 2 tsp chilli powder, 2 tsp pepper powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and 2 tsp salt. Then add the prepared bread crumbs to it and give it a mix.
4. In another large bowl whisk 1 egg and add 1/2 cup milk to it.
5. At the time of cooking first put the oil to heat.
6. While the oil heats, start coating the chicken legs by first dipping in the egg and milk mixture and then rolling it around in the dry flour-bread crumb mixture. Keep them aside in a plate.
7. To know the oil is ready add a little wet flour and see if it immediately rises to the top. When this happens fry the coated chicken pieces in batches. If they are not completely covered in oil then you will need to turn them around to let them cook from all sides.
8. Cook the chicken for 15 minutes to get the (slightly dark) brown colour (but not burnt) on the outside.
9. Drain on paper towels to remove excess oil.
10. Serve with French fries on the side.
Notes on cooking technique.
Regarding the French fries, I think I blanched the potatoes for nearly 7-8 minutes and so they became softer than needed. So the 5 minutes time in the above recipe is just correct. Ideally one is supposed to pack the potatoes in air tight bags and freeze them to make them crunchier. But as I didn't have such bags and the right containers, I refrigerated them instead. Further, I only fried the potatoes for about 2 minutes as they were already quite cooked and so they didn't get that yellow. As an alternative one could perhaps add turmeric powder to bring out that colour.
In my "research" I saw two types on recipes for fried chicken. One in which the skin was removed from the chicken and another in which it was kept intact. I happened to have both types of chicken legs. What I found was that keeping the skin on made the fried chicken more crunchier. For making the dry mixture I used 2 cups of all-purpose flour but with the same measure of spices as in the above recipe. As a result I needed to season the fried chicken with some extra salt on the top. Further, even after coating all the 9 chicken pieces I had half of the flour mixture remaining. So, the 1 cup of flour that I have mentioned in the steps is the right quantity to take.
Though I made bread crumbs by myself, it was because I had forgotten to buy it from the supermarket. You could very well use the ready made ones and save some time. From what I have read if one were to also mix in some corn flakes along with the bread crumbs, it would make the fried chicken still crunchier. I definitely plan to make that addition in my next trial. Most recipes add garlic and onion powders into the flour. But as I didn't have either of the two I instead marinated the chicken in ginger-garlic paste. You could also add herbs like oregano and sage leaves if you have them in your kitchen cabinet.
My husband's verdict.
He loved the look of the fried chicken. Though he had the KFC taste in mind, he still liked it. He felt it would be nicer to have it during evenings instead of as a large dinner meal. As long as he thought it was a decent attempt it is encouraging enough to try it again.
Here is the photo resulting from all that frying heat:
 |
| Fried chicken and French fries |
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