Fried Chicken

My husband's favorite dish is my fried chicken, a very simple, savory dish that is crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside. It took quite a few trials and errors before I was able to simplify it to this point.

When I was living in New York City, one of my close friend's mom used to make these amazing pork chops marinated with fish sauce and ginger powder. She explained that the fish sauce gives the dish depth, kind of like how the Italians use anchovies in a pasta dish, and the ginger decreases the pork smell.

I am Vietnamese, so using fish sauce is second nature. In my fried chicken dish, I have incorporated these two special ingredients, fish sauce and fresh ginger juice, which really amps up the flavor. Not only will you enjoy eating more than one piece of chicken, it tastes great with steam rice and a side dish of steam veggies, such as broccoli.

INGREDIENTS: Servings of 4-6
6-8 lbs of chicken wings and drumsticks (at the store, one package of each)
1 cup of all purpose flour
2 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of salt
black pepper
paprika
garlic powder
3 tbsp of fish sauce
1 knob of fresh ginger root (puree and squeeze out juice, about 3 tbsp)
6 cups of vegetable or canola oil

DIRECTIONS:

1) Marinating the chicken:
Put the chicken pieces in a big metal bowl or pot.
Pour in the fresh ginger juice and fish sauce. Using your hands (or tongs), mix the chicken so the juice gets fully incorporated. Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, sugar, paprika, garlic powder and mix. Let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours.



2) Seasoning the flour:
In another bowl, pour in the flour. Using a fork, stir in a teaspoon of sugar, paprika, garlic powder, black pepper. Cover each piece of chicken with this mixture.



3) Frying the chicken:
In the medium size frying pot, pour in the cooking oil so that it covers two-thirds of the pot. On high heat, bring the temperature to 375 degrees or basically until the oil sizzles if you sprinkle a pinch flour. Place 4 to 5 pieces of chicken (pick the same size pieces for even cooking). Cover the pot with a lid and fry on med high heat for about 8-10 minutes, turning the chicken once (so about 4-5 minutes on each side). The chicken is done by the light brown color and it will tend to float.



Enjoy your crispy fried chicken with steam rice and veggies. For an Asian flare, you can dip it with crushed chilies and lime juice.