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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Step 4
For the peanut soy, finely chop the peanuts, then mix with the kecap manis and dried chilli flakes.
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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.
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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.
Kecap manis is an Indonesian condiment of sweetened soy sauce that’s infused with spices.
Nutritional Information
- Kcals 856
- Fat 68.3g
- Saturates 19.1g
- Carbs 15.3g
- Sugars 11.3g
- Fibre 1.4g
- Protein 44.3g
- Salt 8g