Craving fried chicken? Here’s three excellent recipes to try at home

Sack off the takeaway. You can make a banging fried chicken dinner in your own kitchen, says James Schaak

Kricket’s very own fried chicken recipe adapts a basic tandoori marinade and makes use of a small gas fryer (Kricket)

Fried chicken: the ultimate comfort food, guilty pleasure and crowd pleaser. Between the crispy breaded exterior and the tantalisingly tender interior, what isn’t there to love?

That’s why chefs from three highly-rated English restaurants, two in London and one in Cornwall, have decided to spill the beans and release their personal fried chicken recipes. Here are three different ways to make fried chicken in your own kitchen.

Salt chilli fried chicken

The fried chicken recipe from Shoreditch restaurant Daffodil Mulligan calls for dried birds eye chilli (Daffodil Mulligan)

By: Daffodil Mulligan

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

100g rice flour

5g dried birds eye chilli

8g salt

3 chicken thighs

Method:

Combine all dry ingredients and blend in a food processor.

Dice the chicken thighs into bitesize pieces.

Coat the chicken in the dried mix.

Deep fry for 2-3 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Keralan fried chicken

Kricket’s version came about when they first opened and didn’t have room for a tandoor, just a fryer (Kricket)

By: Will Bowlby, chef patron of Kricket

“This dish came about almost by accident, and has proved to be arguably the most popular dish on our menu. When we first opened Kricket inside a shipping container in Brixton in 2015, I learnt quickly that there was to be no room for a tandoor, only a fryer. So I adapted a basic tandoori marinade, made use of our small gas fryer and Kricket’s very own fried chicken was born. It is likely to remain on the menu for some time to come!”

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

400g boneless, skinless, free-range chicken thighs, cut into 2.5cm pieces

1L vegetable oil, for deep-frying

100g plain flour

100g cornflour

1 tbsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

1 tbsp ground turmeric

Generous pinch of chaat masala per portion

20g fresh curry leaves, lightly fried, to serve

200g curry leaf mayonnaise, to serve (see below)

For the spicy marinade:

300g Greek yoghurt

100ml buttermilk

1 tbsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

1 tbsp ground turmeric

3 green chillies, finely chopped

1 bunch of fresh coriander, finely chopped

For the pickled mooli:

200g , peeled and thinly sliced

200ml pickling liquor (see below)

Method:

To make the spicy marinade, mix the yoghurt, buttermilk, chilli powder, turmeric, green chillies and coriander together in a bowl. Turn the chicken thighs in the marinade so it is coated, cover and leave in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.

To make the pickled mooli, steep the sliced mooli in the pickling liquor for 1-2 hours at room temperature, then keep in the refrigerator until needed.

Pour the vegetable oil in a deep frying pan (skillet) or kadai, and heat until it is about 180C. The oil is hot enough when a cube of bread sizzles when dropped into it. While the oil heats up, combine the flour, cornflour, chilli powder and turmeric in a shallow bowl.

Lift the chicken out of the marinade and coat in the flour-mix, shaking off any excess. Deep-fry in the oil for about 5 minutes until the outside is golden brown. To ensure the chicken is cooked through, test the middle of the biggest piece of chicken with a probe thermometer; it should be over 75C.

Remove the chicken from the fryer and drain on kitchen paper. Sprinkle generously with chaat masala. Serve with the pickled mooli, fried curry leaves and the curry leaf mayonnaise.

Pickling liquor (makes 1L):

Ingredients:

500ml white wine vinegar

500g caster sugar

2 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

4 cloves

2 fresh Indian bay leaves

Method:

Put all the ingredients in a heavy-based saucepan over a low heat and stir occasionally until all the sugar dissolves.

Remove from the heat and set aside to cool before decanting into a sterilised jar. Store in the fridge until required

Curry leaf mayonnaise (makes 1L):

Ingredients:

For the curry leaf oil:

2.5L vegetable oil

1 tbsp mustard seeds

40g of fresh curry leaves

2½ dried Kashmiri red chillies

2½ teaspoons ground turmeric

For the curry leaf mayonnaise:

4 large free-range egg yolks

Splash of lemon juice

1L curry leaf oil

Caster sugar, to taste

Sea salt, to taste

Method:

To make the curry leaf oil, pour the oil in a heavy-based saucepan or kadai, and heat until it is about 180C. The oil is hot enough when a cube of bread sizzles when dropped into it. Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, chillies and ground turmeric, then remove from the heat and leave to cool and infuse.

To make the mayonnaise, put the egg yolks and lemon juice in a blender. With the motor running, gradually pour in the curry leaf oil and blitz together until the mixture thickens and emulsifies.

Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, chillies and turmeric, then season to taste with sugar, salt and a little more lemon juice if you like. The mayonnaise should be shiny and just hold its shape.

Store in a sterilised jar in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Buttermilk fried chicken with chipotle mayonnaise

Paul Ainsworth’s fried chicken recipe can be found at the Mariner’s in Cornwall – and now also in your own kitchen (Mariner’s by Paul Ainsworth)

By: Paul Ainsworth

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

8 chicken thighs (deboned and cut in half)

20 slices of pickled green jalapeños

2L vegetable oil for frying

1 lemon and lime for zesting at the end

For the chicken thigh marinade:

250ml buttermilk

1 egg

5g garam marsala

5g smoked paprika

For the chicken seasoning:

15g garam masala

15g salt

For the chicken crumb:

250g plain flour

10g onion powder

10g paprika

10g garam marsala

10g garlic powder

50g cornflakes (lightly crushed)

5 sheets of filo pastry (cut into thin slices 1in long)

For the chipotle mayonnaise:

125g plain mayonnaise

15g chipotle paste

Juice of half a lemon

1 lemon, zested

1 lime, zested

Method:

First make the marinade by whisking together all of the ingredients in a bowl. Add your thighs, cover, and place in the fridge to marinate for 24 hours

Make your mayonnaise by combining the ingredients together and leaving in the fridge until you are ready to serve your chicken

Next make the chicken coating by mixing together the all of the ingredients.

Remove the chicken from the fridge and coat each piece liberally in the chicken coating

Preheat a deep fat fryer at 175C, or in a large saucepan heat 2 litres of vegetable oil to 175C. Be very careful when doing so.

Fry each piece for about 3-4 minutes until golden brown in colour, before transferring to a cooling rack, with a plate underneath to catch the excess oil. Allow the chicken to cool

Turn your fryer up to 190C and refry the chicken until dark golden and very crispy. Drain on paper towel and season with the chicken seasoning and zest.

Serve with slices of green jalapeños and plenty of chipotle mayonnaise.