Ballarat Fried Chicken. The Name pretty much says it all.This is no ripoff of of the dirty bird’s secret spices- its a whole new original effort, tangy and spicy, inside and out, with marinaded tenderized chicken, encrusted in a crispy and spicy coating.
Easy as pie to make at home- and takes very little effort or skill thankfully.
Yes, there is salad in this pic, but that’s 100% optional.
The differing point in this recipe is the use of breakfast cereal biscuits for a very coarse and crispy crumb finish, mixed with delicious spices.
Crushed weetbix, becasue of its sharp and angular crumbs achievesa very good, and thick adhesion to the chicken meat- far superior to traditional breadcrumbs as the edges stick into the meat quite nicely.
Key Ingredients:
- 3 Large chicken breasts
- 7+ bricks of Weetbix or budget equivalent
- Cup of corn flour
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 500ml rice bran oil for frying
Suggested Special equipment:
- Steak griddle pan (ridged base)
Spice & marinade ingredients:
- 3 Dried chillies
- 1 large lemon
- 3 colour grinding pepper
- Sea salt
- Sesame Oil
- Sesame Seeds
- Cooking rice wine (sake)
- Centuries ahead Mexican spice mix (Salt, onion, oregano, chilli, garlic, thyme, cumin)
- Centuries ahead Pepper steak spice mix (unknown composition)
Suggested salad:
- handful Leafy green fancy salad mix
- half of a slightly underripe pear
- 8 cherry tomatoes
- Salt + pepper (on tomatoes)
- liberal shaving of Gran padano hard Italian cheese
- small handful of black grapes.
- splash of balsamic vinegar
Method:
Step #1- meat preparation & marination
- Cut chicken breasts thinly into 3cm wide strips (or larger if so desired) and tenderise lightly with a mallet
- Place chicken meat in a large bowl with a tightly fitting lid
- Cut lemon, squeeze juice onto bowl of meat, stir gently.
- slice skin of 1/2 of the lemon thinly, then dice vigorously, add to bowl
- dice chillies, add to bowl
- add spice mixes to desired strength
- introduce 4 tablespoons of sesame oil to bowl
- add sesame seeds
- splash in rice wine / sake
- stir meat gently, ensuring spices sesame seeds, and lemon pieces are distributed evenly
- cover, and place in fridge for 30mins +
step #2 Preparation of batter & crumb, frying.
- Break two eggs into a cup, and whisk with a fork to break and mix white & yolks, add milk to thin.
- Add in salt, pepper & spice mix to taste.
- Pour spicy egg batter mix into a large, shallow dinner plate or bowl
- Crush weetbix biscuits by hand in fists into a shallow dish- mix of fine and course pieces is best.
- Mix cup of corn flour with wheat biscuit crumbs, and add spices, salt, pepper to taste.
- Dip marinaded chicken meat into egg mix, then transfer to crumb plate
- Pat crumbs firmly into the marinaded, battered chicken.
- Pour rice bran oil into steak griddle pan till 1cm deep over high point of ridges.
- Griddle pan is best for shallow frying- the ridges discourage sticking, and ensure good oil coverage on bottom of chicken pieces.
- Shallow frying is ideal, as care needs to be taken to ensure crumb does not fall off chicken pieces.
- Use tongs to carefully hand shallow fry each chicken piece.
- Place chicken pieces on absorbent paper toweling after cooking to ensure a crisp and less oily finished product- pat dry with paper on the top side also.
- The finished product shudl be golden, crispy, spicy and delicious
- great on it’s own with a dipping sauce, or cut up, in a salad, if you are feeling guilty and bloated after eating most of the chicken straight from the pan once its cool enough to bear