Hello dear foodies. Today I am sharing the recipe of fried chicken strips. This fried chicken is quite similar to what you get in KFC, only tastier and more pocket-friendly.
It is very important to brine the chicken before you deep fry it. It will get cooked easily, faster and won’t have a stringy or rubbery texture. Brining is the technique which involves preparing the brine and soaking the chicken in it for about 7 hours or overnight.
You can start brining the chicken a day ahead you want to prepare the fried chicken. I made a cheesy dip to go with the crispy chicken strips. I was so bored of having ketchup, so I decided to add some magic to the bechamel sauce that I had prepared a day before and stored it in the fridge. I have used chicken breasts and deboned-drumsticks.
More the purpose of coating the chicken strips, I have used whole wheat flour instead of maida/refined flour. The wheat flour enhances the taste manifold. The cornflour renders crispiness to the coating.
Bechamel sauce is a French Mother Sauce and can be made to use cheese sauce or crème sauce. I used it to make the cheese sauce or dip. Let’s get started with the recipe now.
For the purpose of measurement, 1 cup = 250 ml. This recipe serves 3-4 persons, making about 20 chicken strips. But first, let make the cheese dip.
I will share a detailed recipe of making the basic brine in the upcoming post.
To Make the Cheese DipIngredients
Butter – 30 grams
All purpose flour / Maida – 3 tbsp
Milk – 3/4 cup, at room temperature
Sharp cheddar cheese – 100 grams, grated
Salt – To taste
White pepper – 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg powder – a generous pinch
Hot and Sweet Tomato Ketchup – 1/3 cup
Onion – 1/2
Cloves – 3
Bay leaf – 1
How to Make Hot ‘n’ Sweet Cheese Dip
Heat a saucepan on a low flame. Add in the softened butter and allow it to melt slowly.
Add in the flour little by little and keep stirring the mixture till all the flour is well incorporated in the butter and there are no lumps.
This mixture of flour and butter is called ‘roux’. Cook the roux on low flame for the next 5 minutes stirring constantly so that it won’t burn. The color needs to stay white, yet the raw smell of flour needs to disappear.
The Roux
Turn off the flame and allow the roux to cool down.
It’s time to add in he milk. Start by adding a couple of spoonfuls and stirring vigorously to incorporate the milk into the roux.
Continue till all the milk gets mixed into the roux and there are no lumps.
Turn the heat back and heat the sauce on low flame. Attach the bay leaf onto the halved onion with the help of cloves. Toss it in the sauce.
Allow the sauce to simmer on low flame for about 7-8 minutes. Add in the salt, white pepper nutmeg, grated cheese and hot n sweet tomato sauce. Go easy on the salt, because the cheese has some salt in it too.
Mix gently and allow the cheese to melt. Turn off the flame and set the sauce aside.
You can reheat the sauce on low flame if you like it hot. It tastes nice even when cold.
This cheese dip goes well with chicken, nachos, fries as well as chips.
In a mixing bowl, mix together wheat flour, garlic powder, corn starch, salt, mixed herbs and cayenne pepper.
In another bowl, beat eggs with a pinch of salt and set it aside.
Cut the chicken breast into long, thick strips.
Roll them in the flour mixture and shake a little to dust off the excess flour.
Now transfer the chicken strip to the egg wash and allow the excess egg to drip off. Roll the chicken strip once again in the flour mixture.
Now keep the prepared chicken strip onto a plate. Repeat the process with the remaining chicken strips. It might sound time-consuming now, but when you actually do it, those 20 something chicken strips would be prepared in no time.
Heat sufficient oil in a skillet to fry the chicken strips. Heat is well. Canola oil is the best option when it comes to frying chicken.
When the oil is hot, turn the flame to medium and carefully drop 5-6 chicken strips one by one and fry them till the coating looks golden and half done. Remove the chicken strips onto a plate. Repeat the process with remaining chicken strips.
Allow the chicken strips to cool down a bit. Re-fry them the second time, until they look golden brown and well-done. Re-frying the strips makes them crispy.
Re-heat the cheese dip if you like it hot. Serve the crispy chicken strips with the cheese dip. Enjoy!
Stay tuned to check out the brine recipe in the upcoming post.
Ingredients
