“Pritong Manok ni Lola” (Grandma’s Fried Chicken)

This dish is a copy-cat of Max’s Fried Chicken! Yeap, my mother’s idea and recipe. I just added something to soothe my taste preference. We, my brothers and I, grew up eating in Max’s Restaurant occasionally. Way back then, it was really a treat for us! This recipe brings back fond memories of my childhood years (“,)


Ingredients:

• 4 chicken leg quarters, over a kilo in weight
• 6 cups rice wash
• 2 chicken cubes
• 1/3 cup MANG ERNIE’S fish sauce (patis)
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• All- purpose flour, for dusting
• 1 cup or more of cooking oil

Here’s how:

1. In a thick bottom casserole, put chicken and rice wash. Cover. Bring to boil. Add the cubes. Cover again. Reduce fire to medium-low. Simmer for an hour. Drain chicken for 15 minutes in a colander. Reserve chicken stock for future use.


2. In a small bowl, combine, fish sauce and pepper. Mix well. Using a fork, prick chicken several times on both sides. Spoon all over the chicken the fish sauce-pepper mixture. At least marinate for 4-6 hours (turning every now & then and spooning the marinade all over the chicken again). Put it inside the refrigerator. Make sure to cover it tightly. To avoid the smell of the fish sauce inside your refrigerator.


3. After 6 hours make sure to remove the excess marinade of the chicken or else it will become too salty. From this point you can stack chicken inside your freezer if you’re not yet going to eat it. Just individually wrap it with plastic.


4. In a deep pan or “kawali”, heat it over medium-high fire. Put oil. Heat it some more (should be smoking hot!). Meanwhile, dust lightly the chicken with flour on both sides. One at a time, fry the chicken on each side for a minute or two or until light golden brown only. Do not over-fry. If you do that the chicken will become too dry. Don’t worry the inside of the chicken is cooked already from boiling. We’re just aiming for a crispy outside texture of the chicken.


5. Serve immediately. It’s great with banana catsup and hot cooked rice.

Note:
This recipe is good for “baon”.