Tandoori-spiced fried chicken — a Ravinder Bhogal recipe

This recipe began life as staff food in our kitchen at Jikoni. When I announced one Friday morning that I’d be making a fried chicken family lunch (the meal we eat together), there was an eruption of cheers, even from the quieter members of the team. The jubilation was understandable. When it comes to comfort food, few things are more compelling than joints of chicken fried in vats of oil until they are dark, craggy, supremely crusty on the outside and bafflingly juicy and tender within. Add to that a whack of heady spices that make you sweat a little and you are on to one of the most crowd-pleasing meals there is.

Chicken is a dependable protein for a brigade of chefs that needs something that’s versatile, nourishing and speedy to cook. We regularly order in chubby thighs, the best cut in my opinion, from our wonderful suppliers The Ginger Pig, whose shop is conveniently a hop and a skip away from the restaurant.

For this recipe, boneless thighs are submerged and left to rest in enzymatic buttermilk laden with ginger, garlic and tandoori-style spices that leave a pleasant tingle on the lips, and then dredged in a mixture of flour, cornflour and cornflakes for an off-the-Richter crunch — because fried chicken isn’t worth eating if the skin isn’t resoundingly crisp. The golden pieces are always served straight from the fryer when they are far too hot to eat, although that’s never stopped me from trying. We eat two or three pieces each, with piles of salted fries, ears of buttered corn and a Bibb lettuce salad. As good as it is, we’d never put it on the menu for fear of being up to our eyeballs in fried chicken orders. This one’s just a cook’s treat.

Tandoori-spiced fried chicken

Serves 4

For the cornflake crust

1. In a large bowl, mix the buttermilk with the garlic, ginger, chillies and tandoori spice mix. Season well with sea salt and black pepper. Add the chicken thighs, making sure they are completely covered. Refrigerate for at least two hours, but preferably overnight. The buttermilk will help to tenderise the meat and the spices will really penetrate its flesh.

2. To make the cornflake crust, simply mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.

3. Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6.

4. Fill a large, heavy-based saucepan a third full with the deep-frying oil. Heat the oil to 180C on the stovetop. If you don’t have a thermometer, you will know the oil is ready when a cube of bread turns golden brown in 20 seconds.

5. Working in batches, lift the chicken thighs from the spiced buttermilk and roll in the cornflake mix, then fry for seven minutes, or until golden and crisp, allowing the oil to get back up to temperature between batches. Drain on kitchen paper, then transfer to a baking tray and bake for seven minutes.

6. Serve hot with wedges of lime and fries, although these also make excellent cold picnic food.

Ravinder Bhogal is chef-patron of Jikoni. Follow Ravinder on Instagram @cookinboots and Twitter @cookinboots

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