Homemade KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken)

Well, here is something I relish when we have friends come over to our place. Its super easy, and the taste just keeps your hands hooked to the plate it is served on :D ...

Though I could not post this during the Superbowl season, I would definitly want to share it with you so that you can get ready to prepare it to cheer up the Red Sox :) (Yes I am from Boston, hence I am for the Red Sox :)


V was very happy and loved it lots. So I am looking forward to fry this soon another time as now we are on a vegetarian diet as of now (lets see till when it will last :D ) .

I learned quiet a lot of tips from the Food Network guys. Some of them I have incorporated in this recipe, such as the method of coating the chicken with the bread crumbs, flour and a very nice way to drop the chicken in the oil without having the chicken stick to the bottom of the vessel initially when it is dropped. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Chicken breast (or thighs) (skinless and boneless) cut into bite size pieces : As per your requirement

Marinade:
Chilli powder
Coriander powder
Garam masala powder
Freshly cracked pepper (Try not to substitute this with the store bought powdered pepper, it just takes away a lot of taste)
Ginger-garlic paste
Lemon juice (or extract) : a little to coat all pieces

Coating:

Wet coating: Egg wash or a loose paste formed with all purpose flour and water

Dry coating: 1 cup bread crumbs + 1/2 cup all purpose flour + (optional)2 tablespoons freshly cracked pepper
Method:

Clean the chicken pieces. Marinate the chicken for an hour. Prepare the dry coating by all the dry ingredients and transferring them into a Ziploc bag. I got this tip and many others from watching the Food Network people. The Ziploc bag is a good idea to store a lot of things which gets perished if not stored properly.

Take each chicken piece and cover it with wet coating and then and drop it in the Ziploc bag. After you put two or three pieces, zip the bag and shake it to coat the pieces. Then unzip the bag and transfer the rest of the chicken into the bag.
If you have too many chicken pieces, prepare the dry ingredients in the second zip lock bag and add the rest of the chicken pieces into the second bag.

Properly zip the bag start shaking it to coat all the chicken pieces, (believe me you don't need a bag full of dry coating to coat many chicken pieces because when you zip the bag and start shaking it hard (you can even shake it upside down without fearing any mess in the kitchen. Just make sure that the Ziploc bag is properly zipped). I guess you can do this even in a air tight container. I haven't tried it though. Store the Ziploc bag in the refrigerator to marinate the chicken pieces overnight with a good dry coating.


The next day, you find that the chicken pieces have got a really good coating. Don't try to shake off the excess bread crumb coating , off the chicken pieces too much. Remember that it was stored in the refrigerator to get a nice thick coating. Heat oil for frying in a deep frying pan. Now the next step is yet another tip I got, and that is when the oil is heated, hold the chicken piece to be fried with a fork, slowly dip the chicken piece into the hot oil, when the chicken is half way into the oil, with a knife slowly pull off the chicken from the fork to drop it in the oil. This sounds too many steps to just fry a chicken :) but believe me it makes things easier to clean and take care of later.


Fry the chicken evenly. It might take approximately 5 to 10 minutes minutes to fry a piece if you have not put too many chicken pieces in the oil at once. Also, smaller pieces tend to fry faster than bigger ones.


Once chicken is fried, drain them on paper towels or cotton cloth. Serve it with onion and tomato sauce. Tadaa ..you are ready for that fun evening with friends coming over or just enjoy it on your own :)