Sunday, September 12, 2010

Resto-Style Fried Chicken

Like what I have said in my last blog post, I will be sharing the first dish I have tried from the Yummy Magazine September 2010 issue. I was actually hoping to cook a different dish, but the buko vendor didn't pass our neighborhood, so I decided to go for this one, as the chicken has been thawed and that it was getting late and I was starting to get hungry.



Resto-Style Fried Chicken

Resto-Style Fried Chicken
{Serves 4}

Ingredients:
  • 2 whole spring chicken (800 grams each), neck and giblets removed
  • 1/4 cup rock salt
  • 20 pandan leaves
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • oil for deep-frying
  • banana ketchup and achara to serve (optional)
Directions:
  • Wash chicken thoroughly. Rub cavity and flesh with rock salt. Wash to remove salt and drain. Stuff cavity of each chicken with 10 pandan leaves.
  • Arrange chicken in a preheated steamer and steam for 20 minutes. Remove chicken from the steamer and let cool.
  • Rub each chicken with 1 tablespoon fish sauce and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Let stand for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.
  • Heat oil in a large wok or deep fryer. Deep-fry chicken for 4 - 5 minutes per side, until skin is golden brown. For extra crispy chicken, chill the chicken in the refrigerator after frying. When ready to serve, re-fry for 2 - 3 minutes per side. Serve with banana ketchup and achara, if desired.
Quite a tedious dish to make as you need to steam it and let it sit for a while, but it really worked for me because while steaming the chicken, I did my late morning exercise, and while letting it sit in the fridge, I freshened myself up. As you may have noticed whenever I share chicken dishes that I cooked, it's always the drumstick that I am using. Yes, the drumstick is my favorite part (but when eating out, I don't like drumstick). This recipe called for two spring chickens, and because I only had two drumsticks, I just adjusted the recipe to suit what I had.

I wrapped the legs with the pandan leaves while steaming, and used 1/4 teaspoon of patis on each leg before I showered it with ground pepper. This wasn't deep fried (I am kuripot), hence the uneven colors. :)

When it comes to the taste, the chicken itself wasn't really salty. I was actually a bit tasteless, maybe because the chicken wasn't able to absorb all the patis. It still has taste of course, it was just that compared to the usual fried chicken I have cooked (with all the flavored coating and batter), this wasn't that tasty. The magic lies on the condiment. I was lucky that brother bought some achara a few days prior to this, so I got to serve it with ketchup and achara. It tasted great with the ketchup (very classic flavor), but I loved it more with achara. The not so seasoned taste of the chicken with the tangy, sweet achara was really a perfect pair. It said in the magazine that the trick was the steaming, and I can attest that steaming before frying it did give the crunch I wanted in a fried chicken.

*** Jenn ***

ps - My mom and I ate at a Chinese restaurant yesterday (11 Sep) and we ordered the crispy fried chicken. Interestingly, the chicken we had at the restaurant and this one tasted the same. Now that I know the secret to good restaurant style fried chicken, I guess no need for the family to order it at a restaurant. We will just cook it and eat awesome fried chicken at the comforts of our own home.

7 comments:

♥peachkins♥ said...

wow! fried chicken at its best!

Verna Luga said...

thais actually are wrapping thier fried chicken in pandan. aroma is awesome ...

dropping by Jenn..

Yummy Sunday here

BTW, I’m inviting you to comment and win a nice hoop earring at
Woman’s Elan Vital Thank You.

Fex said...

wow, ito ang masarap fried chicken, so Yummy talaga

Bogie said...

look very yummy! Pang restaurant talaga! Great photo.

Dhemz said...

ang sarap....pang high end ang presentation...kakatakam...eheheh!

Chubskulit Rose said...

Presentation pa lang nakakabusog na hehehe. Love the achara ba yan?

shutter happy jenn said...

@Vernz - I agree, pandan added some good flavor and aroma to the chicken.

@Chubskulit - Yep, achara.

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Jenn, the Foodie


I come from a family who loves cooking and eating. I never had any formal training in cooking and that I taught myself how to cook based on the handed down recipes, but I could say that I can cook good food. In 2008, I started documenting my food trips for my travel blog, and since I have quite enough to start a food blog, might as well put all those food trips in one location. Thus, a food blog is born - thanks to the new Friendster Blogs. However, due to several problems, I was left with no choice but to pack bags again and move here instead. Here's the permanent address, promise! Enough talk, let the food trippin' begin! {Know More About Me}