Hot and spicy


The last couple of days have been unseasonably cool in Calcutta, with intermittent rain and lovely, squally weather. This afternoon too the skies darkened, and it rained cool and sharp and felt as though the monsoons were  here already.

Now I tend to get rather hungry in rainy weather.  It’s when I long to eat salty, crispy, fried stuff – hot, and straight off the fire. Today was one of those days. I felt the craving to eat some crackling hot and spicy fried food. Maybe some batter-fried brinjal roundels? Or perhaps some potato or onion pakoras liberally peppered with chilli flakes? I scanned my larder to see what I had that was quick fry-worthy.

Well, there were the onions and potatoes, of course, but they suddenly looked a bit boring. Then I remembered that I had some chicken drumsticks in the freezer. I immediately knew what would sustain me this rainy evening. I’d make some spicy fried chicken, I decided. It was easy as pie, quick (the only time consuming bit was getting the chicken pieces to thaw), and deeply, deeply satisfying.

The trick here is to control the heat while frying so that the crust does not brown too quickly, that is, before the chicken gets thoroughly cooked inside. Get that right and this dish is a sure shot one. Serve it with baked jacket potatoes and a salad on the side and you are set for a great meal. Irrespective of whether it’s raining outside or not!






Spicy Fried Chicken
Serves 4

Ingredients

10 chicken drumsticks
4 cups of milk
2 cups of flour
6 tsp of paprika powder
Some grated nutmeg
Salt to taste 
Vegetable oil for frying

Method
Soak the chicken drumsticks in the milk for about 10 minutes. Mix the paprika, nutmeg and salt into the flour. Then take each drumstick and roll it in the flour to coat thoroughly.

Pour oil into a large and deep frying pan. The oil should come up to at least an inch in the pan. Heat the oil. Drop the chicken pieces in the hot oil. Keep the heat on medium and let it cook. After about 10 minutes turn the pieces over and leave to cook for another 10 minutes. The crust should take on a reddish brown colour. If you feel they need to brown some more, go ahead and let them cook for a little while longer.

Serve hot and garnish with a sprig of parsley. 

Comments

  1. SaugataApril 09, 2012 10:01 am

    I'm also very fond of pakoras and all fried stuff. Yesterday evening, as you said, was the ideal time for binging on these. So family and I made a quick trip to KFC at City Centre II and had our fill.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ramzan in Old Delhi: Gosht, Kheer and Khushi

Image
                                                                    Waiting for Iftar inside Jama Masjid Last Sunday I went for an Iftar food walk in the bylanes of Old Delhi. I had been meaning to do this ever since I moved to the capital three years ago. I had heard how Old Delhi was the place to be at when the faithful break their fast in the shadow of the imposing Jama Masjid during the holy month of Ramzan. The place is famous for its food anyway — there are  hole-in-the-wall eateries that make the most amazing kormas , niharis a nd kebabs, and the most gorgeous sweets and savouries. But Iftar promised to deliver Old Delhi and its stunning tastes in particularly splendorous ways. And so off I went to explore them. My guide was Ramit Mitra, who runs the excellent Delhi By Foot heritage and food walk tours. Having interacted with Ramit before, I knew he was a connoisseur of good food. I knew he would guide us to some hidden gems (well, at any rate, hidden from
Read more
Pizza power The other night I went out with friends to Fire and Ice, the Italian eatery on Calcutta’s Middleton Street. By the way, you’ll have to get used to me calling the city by its old name. I belong to the recalcitrant, change-resistant old order, which is perfectly happy with ‘Kolkata’ when speaking in Bengali, but finds it downright weird to call it anything other than ‘Calcutta’ while communicating in English. Besides, I can’t bear the mauling that ‘Kolkata’ receives from the non-natives. More often than not, the sound that emanates from these bemused tongues is either Kaul-kat-ta, or at best, Kaul-kata. It’s an assault, no less, and completely destroys any illusion one might have had about being able to assert the city’s Bengali character through the name change. So I continue to use the far more democratic ‘Calcutta’. It may sound colonial to the Bong nationalist, but it’s what I call home in the English language.       Anyway, this place I was talking about -- Fi
Read more

An Ode To Ghee

Image
Is ghee a superfood? That’s what the wise folks who issue food diktats from time to time say. (Too much salt’s bad for you! No dammit, it could be good for you!) They say that far from being a lethal, artery-clogging, adipose-adding substance, ghee is actually great for your health. In fact, ghee’s place is now up there amongst such allegedly miraculous superfoods as quinoa, açai berries, chia seeds, kale and so on. Now, I don’t know if ghee is a superfood. What I do know is that I have always considered it to be a SUPER food. Super as in yummy. Super as in oh-please-I-want-some-more! So I like to have a little ghee with my steamed rice once or twice a week. Indeed, one of my all-time favourite comfort foods is plain ghee-bhaat — piping hot steamed basmati rice with a bit of good quality ghee and a pinch of salt. I’ve always felt guilty about this little indulgence of mine. But thanks to ghee’s recent elevation as a nutritional rockstar, I feel much better abo
Read more