Southern Fried Chicken

Southern Fried Chicken by The Fat Foodie

One of my favourite types of fast food is Kentucky Fried Chicken. I’m not a big fan of their chicken drumsticks, but I love their chicken fillet burgers. They’re never dry and are always tasty, succulent and full of flavour. You can understand then, why I’ve always fancied having a go at trying to reproduce southern fried chicken in my own kitchen.

Although KFC uses chicken breasts in their fillet burgers I use chicken thighs because they’ve got far more flavour in them than breast meat and aren’t as dry. Actually, I’ve been buying skinless, de-boned chicken thighs much more than chicken breasts nowadays because they are infinitely tastier than chicken breasts and tend to remain tender and moist upon cooking, whereas chicken breasts dry out very easily. Chicken thighs are also considerably cheaper than chicken breasts. However, you can use whichever you prefer.

I’m pleased to announce that these southern fried chicken fillets are also gluten-free. I was a bit worried in case the gluten-free flour would be too dry in the southern fried chicken seasoning, but it wasn’t in the slightest. In fact, if anything, I think it helped to create that beautifully crisp, crunchy coating that you expect from a good piece of southern fried chicken. If gluten’s not an issue for you though, you can just use normal plain flour. Also, I fried my chicken pieces in a couple of centimetres of hot oil in a frying pan, but you could bake them in the oven if you want a less calorific dinner.

Since developing this recipe I’ve made this southern fried chicken for dinner at least three times because it tastes exactly the same as KFC chicken. It produces deliciously succulent, tender southern fried chicken fillets that are simply begging to be put in a soft bun, topped with good quality mayonnaise and served alongside some homemade potato wedges. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.

Ingredients:

A pack of skinless, boneless chicken thighs

1 egg white

1 & 1/2 cups of gluten-free flour (I use Dove’s Farm G/F flour because it’s made with low FODMAP ingredients whereas many other gluten-free flours are made with high FODMAP options.)

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp salt

1 & 1/2 tbsps sweet paprika

1 tsp asafoetida powder

1/2 tsp chilli powder (optional)

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp celery salt

1/2 tsp dried sage

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried thyme (aka marjoram)

Vegetable oil (for frying the chicken)

Method:

Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Mix all of your flour, spices and seasonings together in a wide bowl.

Put the egg white into another wide bowl and beat it.

Coat each chicken piece in beaten egg white before dipping it in the southern fried seasoning and placing them on the baking tray and leaving them dry for 15-20 mins.

Southern Fried Chicken Ready to be Cooked by The Fat Foodie

Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan and cook the southern fried chicken until they are fully cooked through. Serve.

Southern Fried Chicken by The Fat Foodie

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Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers (Makes 6)

Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers

Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers by The Fat Foodie

This is my final guest post for Jen, the doula from Your Birth Scotland, so I decided that I’d make it a recipe that was family friendly for mums who have their hands full and need a relatively quick, but nutritious dinner to serve their families. I figured everyone enjoys a good burger, so why not make it one that would be a great healthy option for both expectant mums and mums with families already?

Beans are incredibly healthy because they are a nutritionally dense protein that is full of soluble fibre (which lowers cholesterol and regulates blood sugar levels, ensuring you have a slow and steady release of energy) and also insoluble fibre (the kind that prevents constipation and, shall we say, ‘keeps you regular’). Beans also contain folate, a B vitamin which prevents anemia and keeps our blood cells healthy, and magnesium, a key mineral required for our metabolism. Therefore, after reading about how nutritionally important beans are to our overall health I figured they’d be brilliant to make a good burger with.

One of my favourite things to eat is a burger. I don’t know what it is about burgers that pleases me so much. It could be the tactile nature of sandwiching something seriously tasty between the two halves of a soft, fresh bun or it could also be the epic range of toppings that you can adorn your chosen burger with. These toppings include things such as cheese, a minefield of options in itself when you are faced with the choice of a cheese slice, a handful of grated cheddar or mozzarella, or a melting coating of blue cheese.

You’ve then got the question of salad. Do you go for sliced tomatoes, crispy iceberg lettuce or a leaf or two of little gem, or fresh cucumber slices? There are other potential additions to your burger to consider too, such as whether to top it with jalapeños or gherkins. That’s before you even start looking at sauces! Or do you dare to go for all of the above, risking the entire structural integrity of your whole burger operation in the pursuit of the perfect bite? It’s evident that burgers are truly a risky, yet rewarding, business.

As much as I enjoy a beefburger I also very much like a good bean burger. (I should probably mention at this point that I’m not vegan, I just enjoy eating vegan food quite a lot and I’m allergic to dairy so it makes sense to make vegan food because it doesn’t contain dairy.) I like making bean burgers in particular because they’re really easy to make in the food processor, enabling me to knock up a quick dinner in no time at all. There’s also a wide range of flavoured bean burgers you can make, meaning I never get tired of them.

I decided to make these Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers because I had some broccoli in the fridge and wanted to try it in a burger. The experiment worked quite well and I’m pleased to say that they are delicious. The broccoli adds a nice texture and the butter beans are bland enough that they don’t overpower the taste of the broccoli, but they absorb the BBQ flavours really well. It’s cornmeal (polenta) coating helps hold the bean burger together, but crisps up nicely in the oven, adding a nice crunchy bite to the broccoli and butter bean BBQ burgers. As a result you have a bean burger that has a great soft texture inside with a lovely crunchy outside.

Serve your broccoli and butter bean BBQ burgers in a fresh bun with a selection of toppings, such as coleslaw or hummus (I used Deliciously Ella’s Sundried Tomato Hummus), grated cheddar/vegan cheese slice, tomato, lettuce, gherkins, jalapeños, vegan mayo or BBQ sauce with french fries on the side.

Ingredients for the Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers:

200g raw whole broccoli

200g of tinned butter beans (drained and rinsed well)

1 egg (or a vegan egg made of 1 tbsp. of chia seeds mixed with 3 tbsps. of cold water and soaked for half an hour)

1 tbsp tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. of ground black pepper

1 tsp asafoetida powder

2 tsps. smoked paprika

The juice of 1 lime

50g cornmeal (polenta)

To Make a Quick Coleslaw Blend These Ingredients in a Food Processor:

2 large carrots
100g cabbage (or an equal weight to the carrots)
2 tbsps of chopped chives
As much mayo as suits your own taste.
2 tbsps of American mustard  (or a hotter mustard, like dijon, if you prefer).
Freshly ground black pepper.
Coleslaw by The Fat Foodie

Coleslaw by The Fat Foodie

To Make the Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers:

If you’re not using a normal egg, prepare the chia egg by mixing 1 tbsp of chia seeds with 3 tbsps. of cold water and leaving them to soak for half an hour.

Chia Seeds Soaking to Make a Chia Egg

Chia Seeds Soaking to Make a Chia Egg

Preheat your oven to 200C/180C Fan/400F/Gas mark 6.

Cut the broccoli into small florets and steam in the microwave until tender.

Place all of your ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it’s combined together. Empty onto a plate.

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Raw Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burger Mixture

Sprinkle your cornmeal onto another plate and lay out a piece of greaseproof paper beside it, so you have a production line in place.

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Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers About to be Formed

Take some of the bean burger mixture and form a burger patty with it before coating it in the cornmeal. Continue making burgers until all the mixture is used up.

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Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers Mixture

Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers Being Shaped

Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers Being Shaped

Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers Being Coated in Cornmeal

Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers Being Coated in Cornmeal

Place your burgers on the sheet of greaseproof paper and bake in the oven until they are golden brown.

Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers Ready to Bake

Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers Ready to Bake

Serve in buns with whatever toppings take your fancy.

Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers by The Fat Foodie

Broccoli and Butter Bean BBQ Burgers by The Fat Foodie

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Lamb Koftas (serves 4)

Lamb Koftas

Lamb Koftas

I like to plan what I’m making for dinner in the morning so that there’s plenty of time to let something defrost from the freezer while I’m at work throughout the day. The other day I spotted some lamb mince in the freezer and thought I’d make lamb burgers that night. However, by the time I got home I found I wasn’t in the mood for a burger and instead fancied something with a bit more of a kick.

A quick search on the internet for inspiration uncovered a recipe for making lamb koftas, spicy Middle Eastern sausage-shaped lamb meatballs that are served in pitta breads or flatbreads with salad or peppers.

I’ll be honest with you though, although the original recipe called for adding each individual spice to the mix (cloves of garlic, chilli, ground coriander and cumin, etc.) I cut that corner by using a good all-round Moroccan spice mix instead that was free-from onion and garlic, which shaved a considerable amount of time off the dish’s preparation work. I used a good quality Ras el Hanout that I bought from Amazon a while ago for making tagines and it worked very well in the lamb koftas.

Traditionally lamb koftas are cooked on long bamboo or metal skewers, but I just cooked them as loose sausages because I knew I was just going to be serving them tucked inside gluten-free flatbreads with some melted non-dairy mozzarella, roasted peppers and rocket.

Overall, these lamb koftas make for a quick and very tasty midweek dinner and you could also make them with beef or pork mince if you’d prefer.

Ingredients:

500g of minced lamb

1 tbsp. of Moroccan spice mix (add more to taste, if required)

½ a tsp of salt

To serve:

Gluten-free flatbreads or pitta breads

Dairy-free mozzarella and salad

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas 4.

Mix together the minced lamb, Moroccan spice and the salt in a bowl. Divide the mix into eight and roll each portion into a sausage shape.

Place on a baking tray and cook in the oven for about 15-20 minutes.

Serve inside warm flatbreads with mozzarella and salad.

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Pork Burgers with Crispy Potatoes (Serves 4-6)

Pork Burgers with Crispy Potatoes

Pork Burgers with Crispy Potatoes by The Fat Foodie

It would not surprise me if the people who read my blog harboured the impression that I am a vegetarian because of the amount of veggie dishes I cook and write about, but the truth is, I really enjoy good meat. When I say ‘good meat’ I mean meat that’s of a high quality and not really processed.

The other day I fancied making a really good burger and although ordinarily I’d use beef mince, I had a pack of pork mince in the freezer so I figured I’d have a bash at making pork burgers with crispy potatoes on the side. I have to say, as much as I enjoy a beefburger, I could be a convert! The pork burger kept its moisture during the cooking process much better than a beefburger normally does and it took on the flavours of the seasonings I added to it very well.

The pork burgers were incredibly easy to make and the flavour possibilities you could make with them are endless (sage and chive, smoked paprika and red pepper, and ground cumin and fresh coriander leaf are a few which spring to mind). I served mine in a soft gluten-free bun with some crispy potatoes on the side. Give this a try and see if you convert too.

Ingredients:

500g pork mince

1 tsp asafoetida powder

1 ½ tsps. paprika

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

4-6 soft burger buns

4-6 large potatoes

2 tbsps. of vegetable oil

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas 4.

In a large bowl mix the asafoetida powder, paprika, salt and pepper into your pork mince.

Form 4-6 patties with the mince by hand (depending on how big you want your burgers to be) or you could use a burger press to form the patties, and place them on a baking tray. If you find your mixture is too dry to pack together then feel free to add 1 egg into it to help bind the mixture.

Cut your potatoes into cubes or wedges, place on a baking tray, coat in the oil and sprinkle with salt. You could add 1 tsp of smoked paprika to your wedges too if you’d like them to have a smokey taste.

Put both baking trays in the oven and bake until your pork burgers are fully cooked in the middle and your potatoes are soft when speared with a fork.

Put the burgers in their buns and build your burger, adding cheese, lettuce, tomato, jalapeños, mayo, ketchup etc. as desired.

Serve with the crispy potatoes and get stuck in!

Pork Burgers with Crispy Potatoes by The Fat Foodie

Pork Burgers with Crispy Potatoes by The Fat Foodie

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