Recipe: Fantastic Fried Chicken

Sometimes you really want to indulge and, for many, fried chicken from a fast food joint is the way to go. In all honesty though, when you make it at home it is even better: you can use better quality chicken that lived a happier life and that tastes better, and do it all for a fraction of the price! So here’s my recipe for fantastically tasty fried chicken—it’s so simple!

Ingredients (serves 4 happily or 3 greedily):

8 chicken thighs 200g plain flour 1 tbsp garlic powder 1 tbsp sweet paprika 1 tsp cayenne pepper 125 ml milk (buttermilk if available) 125 ml sparkling water Salt and pepper

500ml vegetable oil (for frying)

Method:

1. Start by deboning your chicken thighs. Run a kind along the length of the bone and then scrape the bone clean, cutting through the sinew at each end to release the meat. I find that cutting the resulting meat into 3 or 4 pieces makes them ideally sized for frying.

2. In a bowl combine all f the day ingredients and season this really well with salt (about 3 tsp) and black pepper.

3. Pour enough oil into a pan to achieve a depth of 2 or 3 inches and heat.

4. Pour the sparkling water and milk into the dry mix and mix well then dredge each piece of meat in the batter.

5. Check that the oil is hot enough by flicking a drop of batter into it, it should sizzle immediately.

6. Now place three of four chicken pieces in at a time so as not to crowd the pan. Cook for 5-8 minutes depending on the size.

7. Remove and drain on kitchen towel.

8. Serve with mayonnaise, ketchup and a wedge of lemon.