Columbian Fried chicken - Pollo Frito

In general my blog covers Indian recipes and very few continental stuff. But this time it was my hubby’s office potluck and he was randomly selected to bring some non-Indian dish. My husband and son loves fried chicken and I do not dislike that either. So my hubby told me to prepare some out-of-box fried chicken recipe and I come up with this one. The actual Columbian fried chicken or Pollo Frito as they call it in Spanish is prepared with cayenne pepper which is not available in Bangalore. Hence I changed some ingredients and also the way it is prepared. But I can guarantee that the dish remains as delicious as ever. The VP of my husband’s office liked my dish very much and my hubby’s colleagues also give great feedback to him.You can watch the attached video or go through the recipe below.

Preparation Time: - 15 min

Cooking Time: - 35~40 min

Servings: - 4 persons

Ingredients:-

For the Brine

1.      Buttermilk 4 cups

2.      3 tsp salt or to taste

For the Chicken and Breading

1.      1 kg. (approx. 8 pieces) Chicken (I prefer drumsticks but thighs, breast and/or wings will also do)

2.      1 tsp Salt

3.      1½ cups all-purpose Flour

4.      1½ tsp white Sugar

5.      1 ½ tsp Black Pepper

6.      1 medium sized Onion chopped

7.      7~8 cloves of fresh Garlic

8.      2 ½ tsp Red paprika

9.      1 ½ tsp Thyme

10.   2 ½ tsp Red Chilli Powder

11.   A lemon for garnishing

12.   Sufficient oil for frying (I used Sunflower oil but canola, vegetable, or corn will do)

Preparation:-

1. Place the chicken in a large bowl and pour in the buttermilk and salt. Mix to cover each piece of chicken really well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Then, take the chicken out of the fridge and let it rest at room temperature about 30 minutes before frying. Keep the buttermilk.
   
2. Chop the onion and crush the black pepper in a pestle and mortar.
3. Mix them with cloves of garlic, red Chilli powder, sugar, red paprika, salt and thyme.
4. Put the mixture in a blender and blend for a minute.
5. Dip each piece of chicken in the buttermilk you reserved previously and then cover with the spice mixture and then to flour, shake off the extra powder. Repeat this process a second time, dip the chicken once again in the buttermilk and cover it with more spice mixture and flour.
   
6. In a Kadai or deep bottomed frying pan, heat sufficient oil in high heat. Turn the burner to medium and fry the chicken for a total of 15~20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the juices run clear.
7. Make sure to turn it over halfway through the cooking process. I had used a smaller frying pan and hence I fried two at a time.
   
8. Then, let it drain for a few minutes over a wire rack with Kitchen Towels underneath before serving.
   
   
   

   

Serve hot with lemon / tomato ketchup as a starter. This goes well with any Indian or continental meal.

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.