FLOWER POT KITCHEN: BIG GIRLS DIET CRISPY GINGER HERBY CHICKEN

25 Feb 2017

BIG GIRLS DIET CRISPY GINGER HERBY CHICKEN

A fabulous twist on the sumptuous gorgeous Japanese deep fried chicken dish Tori Kara Age, chicken marinated with soy, sake, ginger and palm sugar, fried in a fresh oregano and thyme thin light tempura style batter. Well not to far of a twist just whats at hand in my larder, I am out of sake and soy sauce, but I do have organic soya sauce and some left over Christmas Tio Pepe sherry that will substitute the sake, I always have ginger and a block of palm sugar in stock and with the lack of fresh herbs from the garden I can just about manage a teaspoons worth of fresh thyme leaves from a desperate thyme plant and I can also turn to the dried bundles of marjoram and oregano hanging in the kitchen to give this dish a twist...Some how I feel a little apothecary coming all over me...

Prep time 10 minutes / Marinate time 1-6 hrs / Cooking time 10 minutes

This is one of the best chicken dishes you could ever eat...Marinated chicken thighs in a soy, (today for me organic soya), Tio Pepe (should be Sake) with a dash of sugar and grated ginger, then tossed in a corn and egg herb thin batter that gives a partial thin crispy yet chewy herby coating that is just divine and very moorish, so make plenty.

Ingredients

(serves 4)

The Marinade

600g approx boneless chicken thigh meat diced 1" chunks

100ml soy or soya sauce

2 tsp sugar

2" ginger grated

10ml sake or tio pepe sherry

Crispy Chicken

1 egg beaten

4 tbsp cornflour

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried red chillies

1 ltrs ground nut oil for frying

1 lime cut in half

Dipping Sauce

75ml soy or soya sauce

1 tbsp mirin

2 tsp brown rice vinegar

1 pea size of wasabi paste

1 drop sesame oil

1 small red chilli sliced

Place all the marinating ingredients except the chicken in a saucepan and bring to just a simmer until the sugar has dissolved, take off the heat and leave to cool. Once cool add to the chicken, mix well and place in the fridge for at least on hour and if you can and even longer up to 24hrs is brilliant.

Make the dipping sauce by mixing all the ingredients together, taste and you can adjust the sweet and sour flavour with the level of mirin (sweet) and brown rice vinegar (sour) if you find the soy sauce too salty.

Place the oil in a deep skillet pan and bring up to a medium hot heat around 180 C / 360 F. In a large bowl place the beaten egg and whisk in the cornflour to a smooth batter, add the the dried herbs and chillies, then toss the chicken into the thin batter, drop the chicken into your hot oil and fry in batches for around 3-4 minutes until golden in colour, remove from the oil and leave to drain on paper towel or on home made reusable un paper cloth towels I have made...long story...(another blog to come!)...ie use a tea towel ! Squeeze the lime halves over the rested chicken and serve...

Straight away hot and gorgeously crispy juicy and a little bit chewy fragrant chicken with that thin herb batter, along with the wasabi sesame dip. This would equally go great chopped and tossed over some basmati rice, or stuffed in soft flour tacos, but for my family it is all about the chicken...

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.