This is a recipe post. There is the usual ramble before the recipes about why I’m posting about the recipe, but if you’re not interested in that just skip to the pictures – that’s where you’ll find the recipe. I won’t be offended. I do the same.
The Beard and I are definitely foodies, but we also have to admit that we’re junk-foodies too. Some people may say this is the reason it’s been so difficult to lose the baby weight, but I choose not to be friends with those people so let’s just move on…Besides, a mother’s mental sanity is more important than fitting into her skinny jeans, no?
Sadly, while the Beard and I used to love cooking in the kitchen (never together, because that’s a recipe for disaster) but over time, with work and kids, we inevitably found ourselves throwing something quick and easy together with whatever was in the fridge, or getting take-aways.
The Beard is an excellent cook – and I’m decent – so we’ve always eaten well, but we didn’t have the joy of looking in cookbooks and planning what we wanted to cook and eat. We have a ton of cookbooks and one of my favourite things is paging through them, finding something we like, and going shopping for those particular ingredients. It makes cooking so satisfying, somehow.
Anyway, then lockdown came along. In South Africa we’ve been in lockdown since 19 March and this has meant all our restaurants had to close. They’ve since been allowed to open for takeaways – and will soon for sit-down service too – but for a while we had to look after ourselves.
Every. Single. Night.
So because we havent had access to our favourite…uh…restaurants for a while we’ve had to figure out how to make our favourite dishes ourselves. And this one is a winner winner!
We’re calling it…
Lockdown Fried Chicken (LFC).
(No prizes for guessing which is my favourite take-away.)
INGREDIENTS
*chicken pieces
* Fair Cape amasi
*flour
* spices (whatever’s in your cupboard – we use salt, pepper, mixed herbs, steak & chops spice, cinnamon and celery salt)
* oil – for frying
METHOD
* Boil the chicken pieces for an hour. .
We cook the chicken first so it doesn’t have to cook so long in the oil
* Pat the chicken dry and let it cool.
* Soak the chicken pieces in amasi, cover and put in the fridge for at least an hour.
I think this is the key step. You can just put all the pieces in a big Tupperware and fill it with amasi.
* After an hour or two, heat the oil. There needs to be enough oil to deep fry and it needs to be hot.
* Put flour in a bowl and spice the flour.
* Without shaking off too much amasi, dunk each chicken piece in the flour before frying for about 10 minutes.
And hey presto : LFC
I’m not going to lie, I was super impressed by this effort. The chicken was super tasty and not as oily as the original.
The next recipe I’m just going to add in because it’s another super easy one and it’s unbelievably delicious. If you ever find yourself craving flapjacks, this is the recipe you need.
Amasi flapjacks
INGREDIENTS
500 ml flour
10 ml baking powder
5 ml bicarb of soda
pinch of salt
30 ml sugar
5 ml vanilla essence
500 ml Fair Cape amasi
2 eggs, beaten
oil for frying
NOTE: This makes quite a big batch so we usually half the recipe.
METHOD
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a hollow in the middle.
Mix the beaten eggs, amasi and vanilla essence together. Pour into the hollow and mix. Cover and leave for 30 mins.
To cook, heat a bit of oil in a frying pan. Pour a dollop of the batter into the pan and fry for a few minutes on each side until brown.
Remember: these are flapjacks, not pancakes, so the mixture is quite thick and you don’t need a lot of batter for each flapjack. They will rise nicely as they cook.
Serve with butter, cream, honey or fruit (and champagne, obviously).
For a kid-friendly version, I leave out the sugar. The kids love it with cream or butter, while I smother mine in syrup and eat them where they can’t see me
PS If you’re wondering what amasi is, it’s fermented milk that has the consistency of liquid yoghurt – buttermilk, basically. It’s packed with calcium and probiotics, but it has less lactose than cow’s milk.
If you like these recipes, keep an eye out for Fair Cape’s Ration Friendly recipe book, which will be out soon.
Disclaimer: This recipe was made in collaboration with Fair Cape Dairies.
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