Garlic fried chicken with a masa harina crust
| Garlic fried chicken with a masa harina crust | |
|---|---|
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| An unusual accompaniment of garlic mushrooms and grilled tomatoes | |
| Servings: | Serves 2 |
| Ready in: | 3 hours, 18 minutes |
| Prep. time: | 3 hours, 10 minutes |
| Cook time: | 8 minutes |
| Difficulty: | 
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This recipe needs advance preparation!
It is years since I deep-fried anything so this is almost new territory for me. Reading one of Ken Homs early cookbooks gave me the impetus to try it again. I'm glad I did, it was really good and not at all greasy.
THis is really an aide-memoir for me; next time I would add a tablespoons of Old India Taco Seasoning for a bit more spice, and I would also hammer the chicken flat before slicing up. This would enable less oil to be used (not so wasteful), and it would also give a shorter, more uniform cooking time. As it was, we had to cook all of the chicken pieces a little longer to be sure the largest pieces were properly cooked.
Ingredients
Ingredients
Printable 🖨 shopping 🛒 list & 👩🍳 method for this recipe
- 200g small chicken fillets
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon shaoxing rice wine vinegar - balsamic vinegar will be fine
- 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
- A pinch of salt and black pepper
- 2 egg whites
- 2 tablespoon cornflour
- 1 cup masa harina
- 1 to 2 cups sunflower oil
Mise en place
- Cut the chicken fillets into bite-sized pieces
- Add to a Lock & Lock box together with the crushed garlic, rice wine vinegar, lemon juice, salt and black pepper.
- Shake well to mix and refrigerate for an hour or more to allow the marinade to penetrate the meat.
Method
- Drain the chicken pieces in a colander and discard the marinade juices.
- Whisk the egg whites and cornflour in a bowl.
- Add the chicken pieces to the bowl and mix well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Add the cup of masa harina to a dry Lock and Lock box, close the lid and shake hard to coat the chicken.
- Heat a wok or frying pan with enough oil to just cover the chicken pieces.
- Heat to 176° C [350° F] (a 2.5cm [1"] cube of bread should brown in 60 seconds.
- Fry the chicken pieces in 2 batches for about 4 minutes each batch. Cut one of the largest pieces open to check that it is properly cooked.
- Serve immediately.
Serving suggestions
Chips and salad is probably the most usual accompaniment for this. We had this with an unusual, but fantastic combination; garlic mushrooms and grilled tomatoes!