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Chicken-fried chicken with peanut soy

Name: Chicken-fried chicken with peanut soy
Total time: 2 h
Ingredients: sea salt 120g; red chillies 4; garlic 6 cloves; coriander a small bunch, plus extra to serve; lemongrass 2 sticks, finely chopped; peanut oil 100ml; chicken legs 2 whole; duck fat 300g jar; lemon ½, wedged to serve; coriander leaves to serve; rice vinegar 120ml; caster sugar 3 tbsp; lemon ½, zested; cucumber 1, finely sliced; roasted peanuts (not salted) 75g; kecap manis 125ml (see notes below); dried chilli flakes a pinch

2 hours + marinating overnight + chilling
serves 2
A little effort

Serve flavour-packed crispy chicken with sticky peanut sauce from Scott Hallsworth's Asian restaurant, Freak Scene in Soho

Published: June 22, 2018 at 5:12 pm

The team at Freak Scene fry the chicken in rendered chicken fat, but duck fat is easier to get hold of and will give you a similar result.

Ingredients

sea salt 120g
red chillies 4
garlic 6 cloves
coriander a small bunch, plus extra to serve
lemongrass 2 sticks, finely chopped
peanut oil 100ml
chicken legs 2 whole
duck fat 300g jar
lemon ½, wedged to serve
coriander leaves to serve

CUCUMBER PICKLES

rice vinegar 120ml
caster sugar 3 tbsp
lemon ½, zested
cucumber 1, finely sliced

PEANUT SOY

roasted peanuts (not salted) 75g
kecap manis 125ml (see notes below)
dried chilli flakes a pinch

Method

Step 1

Put the salt, chillies, garlic, coriander, lemongrass and peanut oil into a food processor and whizz to a purée. Put the chicken into a container and pour over the salt mixture, rubbing it in well. Cover and chill overnight.
Step 2

Rinse the marinade off the chicken and pat really dry with kitchen paper. Put the chicken legs into a small pan so that they fit really snugly and add enough duck fat to completely cover the chicken. Use a thermometer to bring the fat up to 90C and keep it there, cooking gently for 1½ hours until very tender. Remove from the fat, cool and chill until completely cold. Allow the duck fat to cool completely then push through a fine sieve and reserve for later.
Step 3

Warm the rice vinegar, sugar, lemon zest and 1 tbsp salt in a pan until the sugar and salt has dissolved, then cool. Put the cucumber slices into a bowl and pour over the pickling liquid. Leave for 30 minutes before draining to serve.
Step 4

For the peanut soy, finely chop the peanuts, then mix with the kecap manis and dried chilli flakes.
Step 5

Fill a pan no more than ¹/3 full with the reserved duck fat and heat to 160C or until a cube of bread browns in 45 seconds. Fry the chicken legs, one at a time, for 5 minutes or until deeply golden and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm in a low oven while you fry the other.
Step 6

Spoon a pool of peanut soy onto each plate, put a chicken leg on top with a generous pile of cucumbers, a lemon wedge and some coriander leaves.