Chicken Liquor Lunch Box: Buttermilk fried chicken with red onion rings and sweet potato fries

Chef Laoise Casey creates cheap, easy-to-cook lunch boxes inspired by things she has eaten in some of London's best restaurants #ChickenLiquorlunchbox 
Laoise Casey
Laoise Casey29 March 2016

This week's lunch box is about celebrating the simple things in life. There is a lot to be said for simple food cooked well. Uncomplicated yet delicious. Like a proper roast dinner with crispy roast potatoes, or a perfect apple tart, a well-made pie or an excellent creamy mash potato. Or indeed a proper fried chicken. For me fried chicken used to be something I'd have when I would eat out and hadn't really considered making it at home. One of my favourite fried chicken places is near where I live - Chicken Liquor in Brixton. A couple of years ago when working in a kitchen nearby for a pop up I must confess I'd scurry in for my fix on my break. More than once it must be said. Then I discovered the joy of making fried chicken at home - the benefits of course being, as with all home cooking, that you know exactly what you're putting into it.

For our lunch box this week we're having buttermilk fried chicken, accompanied by some sweet potato fries and crispy onion rings.

Ingredients

Fried chicken

1 free-range chicken breast

100ml buttermilk

40g plain flour

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. ground white pepper

1 medium sweet potato

1 medium red onion

Sea salt, cracked black pepper to season

200ml vegetable oil for frying and 2 tbsp. for roasting

Cost to make per portion:£3.70

Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes

How to make it

Preheat oven to 200C. Slice the chicken breast into 5 even strips and place the strips into a bowl with the buttermilk. If you have time you can soak the chicken overnight in the buttermilk to make it even more tender. Slice the sweet potato into even-sized chunks (no need to peel it). Peel the red onion and slice into rings. Roast the sweet potato on a baking tray for 20 minutes with the vegetable oil and sprinkle of sea salt. After 10 minutes add the onion rings. While the vegetables are roasting place the flour, paprika, cumin, pepper and a pinch of sea salt into a large bowl and stir to combine. Heat 200ml vegetable oil in a frying pan. For a healthier version you can use less oil. Heat the oil until a cube of bread browns almost immediately. Shake excess buttermilk from the chicken and roll each piece in the seasoned flour. Fry the chicken pieces for approximately 4 minutes each side until cooked through and golden on the outside. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

Laoise Casey is a chef de partie at Paradise Garage in Bethnal Green and the author of cuisinegenie.ie. Follow her on Twitter@cuisine_genie and Instagram @laoisecooks.

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