Cornish Sticky Fried Chicken

Cornish Fried Chicken

What makes this fried chicken different ? Well where do I start? Firstly the batter is made from breadcrumbs mixed with grated carrot and cabbage. This makes the batter extra crunchy and flavoursome . The strands of grated veg crisp up lovely in the light breadcrumb batter. The sticky sauce which you could easily mistake as thai / asian flavours is made from Cornish Apple Cider Vinegar, Rhubarb  and local honey. The chicken is local, uses boneless thigh meat and is lightly fried. This results in  an amazing succulent flavoursome chicken. Yes it is deep fried and a little naughty but if you are looking for instant satisfaction from a meal then look no further. Its simple, quick, the ingredients are  all locally sourced and its very tasty.

The inspiration for this dish was from Japanese Katsu chicken. I wanted to take  the amazing Katsu light breadcrumb batter  and try and elevate it a notch through adding the grated vegetables.  I have been striving to make a really good Cornish sticky asian sauce and the sauce in this recipe hits the spot. Local honey provides the sweetness, Rhubarb adds an amazing freshness and sourness to the sauce and the apple cider vinegar gives the sauce a nice depth of flavour.

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Cornish Sticky Fried Chicken
Cornish Fried Chicken
Prep Time 20
Cook Time 20
Passive Time 5
Servings
Prep Time 20
Cook Time 20
Passive Time 5
Servings
Cornish Fried Chicken
Instructions
  1. Place the chicken thighs into a bowl of milk and leave to rest for at least 30 mins, longer if possible (2-3 hours). This will help tenderise the chicken.
    Soaked Chicken in Milk
  2. Put the bread slices in the oven and cook until slightly brown. Remove the crusts and blend in a food processor into crumbs.
  3. Grate the carrots and cabbage. I use a food processor with the grater attachment. Place into the preheated oven on a medium heat and cook for 15 minutes. This will cook the grated veg and remove some moisture .
    Breadcrumb ingredients
  4. Combine the cooked breadcrumbs, cabbage and carrots together.
    Breadcrumb mix
  5. Using the food processor, grate the rhubarb. What you will find is that the rhubarb just turns into juice.
    Rhubarb juice
  6. Add the Cider Vinegar, Honey, Chilli and salt to the rhubarb. Place in a saucepan and simmer until the sauce starts to reduce down and becomes slightly sticky.
  7. Heat a pan of oil for deep frying on a medium / high heat. You don't want the oil too hot as it will burn the batter. Drain the chicken thighs from the milk. Set up a plate of flour, bowl of beaten egg and a plate with the mixed breadcrumb, cabbage and carrot mix. Take the chicken thighs and cut them into two. Dip in the flour, then the egg and cover in the breadcrumb mixture.
    Breaded chicken
  8. Add 3 - 4 chicken pieces to the hot oil and fry until nice and brown. This should take 4- 5 minutes. Put the chicken pieces on to kitchen towel to drain of any fat. Put the chicken into the pan of sauce, coat the chicken with the stick sauce and serve.
Recipe Notes

Cornish Fried Chicken
Cornish Fried Sticky Chicken

This dish is a great for a weekend treat. Its so nice to taste great quality fried chicken. The crispiness and lightness of batter is amazing , you don't taste cabbage and carrot but these two ingredients together give the batter more flavour and texture. After the crisp batter you get the most succulent chicken, using thigh meat helps the chicken remain moist and also because you quickly fry the chicken it is very unlikely to be over cooked and more likely to be moist.

The sweet and sour sauce sticks to the outside of the chicken and triggers all the essential taste buds to bring a smile to your face. I garnished the chicken with spiralled cucumber, chives and a bit of basil just to add an extra freshness and cleanliness to the dish.  The garnish soaks up the sauce and compliments it perfectly.

Hope You enjoyed the recipe , let me know if you have any questions.

 

Whealfood x

 

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Rhubarb Dressed Gammon , Quail Egg and Cider Sauce

I was given some lovely local quail eggs this week and wanted to do a recipe that was quick, different and easy. A take of an old classic gammon and eggs. I do like gammon and pineapple however the only place that grows pineapples in Cornwall is Heligan Gardens. Supposedly it cost them over a £1000 to grow a pineapple and then they are sent to the queen, hence they haven’t arrived as a staple supply   at the Cornish Food Box yet! They did have some lovely rhubarb though which we know with a bit of honey can  be both tart and sweet. A pervert accompaniment to cut through the meatiness and  saltiness of the  gammon.

Setting out on of this adventure of cooking using 100% local produce has really made me appreciate rhubarb as it can just about be grown all year round. It is plentiful and adds a good tartness to dishes that require a bit of acidity, in alot of cases it can be good replacement for lemon and lime if used right.

 

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Rhubarb Dressed Gammon , Quail Egg and Cider Sauce
Prep Time 15
Cook Time 20
Passive Time 5
Servings
Ingredients
Prep Time 15
Cook Time 20
Passive Time 5
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Heat Oil in a medium heated pan and quickly fry the gammon 3 minutes per side. You want it so that it is just under cooked as it will still be cooking once we place the rhubarb on top. Turn off the heat and leave the gammon in the pan.
  2. Mandolin the rhubarb cross ways so that you are left with beautiful little slices.
  3. Place the slices on the gammon like scales on a fish. Its best to keep it in the pan.
  4. Turn the heat on to medium/ low and brush or drizzle the rhubarb with a bit of melted butter and honey. Put a lid on the pan and cook for about 4 Minutes, until the rhubarb is cooked.
  5. Remove the Gammon and leave to rest. In the meantime fry some very thinly sliced onions with butter in the same pan until they go soft. this will help pick up the meaty flavours from the gammon. Once the onions are soft (5 mins) add Half a bottle of Cider to the pan and turn up the heat. Once it starts to bubble add a couple of knobs of butter until the sauce starts to thicken. Season with salt as required but not too much as the gammon will be salty.
  6. In a separate pan gently fry the quail egg.
Recipe Notes

This dish looks unusual which is why I like it. You can dress it up to resemble a fish using the rhubarb as scales, you can go into as much detail as you wish. The flavour combinations are absolutely perfect. Gammon is a strong tasting bit of meat , so you need strong flavours to accompany it to help break it down . This dish has sweet from the honey in the rhubarb, and the cider. Salty from the gammon and sour from the rhubarb and the apples in the cider. The cider sauce works really well, apples and pork we know go really well so i'm not sure why it isn't used with gammon as much. Probably because apple isn't sour but in this recipe we have rhubarb for that. The quail egg finishes it off nicely as it just goes so well with pork and gammon. It also adds a nice visual element to the dish such as a representing a huge fish eye !

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