heritage food | myhumblefood

Tags

chicken, chilli powder, coconut milk, curry, fried chicken, ginger, heritage food, inchi kabin, malaysian, nonya food, nonya fried chicken, South East Asian, spices, straits

Ingredients:

1 small chicken – 1.25kg – 1.5kg, chopped into sections

Marinate:

2 tbsp curry powder
3 tbsp grated ginger (or if u can find it, galangal)
5-6 shallots
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
4 tbsp coconut milk
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 chilli padi (optional – just for the extra kick if you like it spicy)
2-3 stalks lemongrass (optional – I didn’t add this in this time round, but I remember my grandmother putting some in hers.)
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp sugar, or to taste

Trim the excess fat and skin from the chicken pieces and pat dry.
Combined all the marinate ingredients together (blend it if you can, it makes the paste so much smoother. I didn’t ;( ) and add in the chicken. Mix well, really get the marinate into every nook and cranny, then cover with a cling wrap and let the chicken marinate in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

3. Remove the chicken from the fridge at least half an hour to an hour before frying.

4. I tried frying the chicken two ways, one with my brand new air fryer, and the other using the conventional deep frying method.

5. For the air frying method, I added a little oil to the chicken and mixed it well before placing the pieces into the air fryer. Here’s the result:

It’s actually pretty good. Saves me quite a bit of oil and manages to also be healthier.

6. As for the deep frying method, heat up enough oil to completely submerge the chicken pieces. This should be on high heat.

7. Gently drop the chicken pieces into the oil, taking care not to overcrowd the pot.

8. Skim off the brown bits from the surface of the oil. This is to prevent being burnt bits floating around the oil and sticking to the chicken.

9. Fry until the chicken turns golden brown (because of the marinade, the chicken will tend to be on the darker side) and starts to float, take care not to overcook the chicken. Remove from the hot oil and place on a kitchen towel to drain off the excess oil

10. Serve. Obviously the deep fried chicken is going to taste better than the air fried ones. However, for the health-conscious, the air fryer is a pretty good alternative.