Cajun fried chicken with a green chilli and coriander dressing

Fried chicken is a marvellous thing to pack in a picnic basket or try this recipe with wings for great finger food.

Cajun fried chicken with a green chilli and coriander dressing Credit: Petrina Tinslay

• serves

  4

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 x 1.8 kg chicken
• 1 tbsp Cajun chilli spice mix
• 1½ cups buttermilk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2½ cups plain flour
• 1 tbsp extra cajun chilli spice mix
• vegetable oil, for deep-frying
• 1 quantity green chilli and coriander dressing
• Cajun chilli spice mix, extra for serving

Green chilli and coriander dressing

• ½ small Spanish onion peeled
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1 large green chilli, stem removed (remove the seeds if you would like it milder)
• 1 cup coriander leaves and stems
• 1 cup continental parsley leaves and stems
• 1 lemon, juiced and zest finely grated
• ¼ cup olive oil
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• sea salt flakes, to taste
• ½ cup buttermilk

Cajun chilli spice mix

• 2 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tbsp salt flakes

Level of heat medium

Chilling time 2 hours or overnight

Green chilli and coriander dressing makes 1½ cups

Cajun chilli spice mix makes approximately ⅔ cup

Instructions

Rinse and dry the chicken with paper towel. Cut up the chicken, begin by cutting it into quarters. Cut the drumstick from the thigh and cut the thighs in half. Remove the wing from the breast, trim off the wing tip and discard (or save for chicken stock). Cut across the chicken breast into three pieces.

Place the chicken pieces with the spice mix in a large bowl and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Whisk together the buttermilk and eggs in a large flat bowl.

Combine the flour with the extra spice mix on a large tray. Toss the chicken in the flour and spice mix; dip into the egg and buttermilk mixture then again in the flour and spices. Shake off excess flour and place onto a tray.

Deep-fry the chicken pieces in hot oil for 10–12 minutes depending on the size of the chicken pieces. Drain on paper towel and serve with the green chilli and coriander dressing and an extra sprinkle of Cajun chilli spice mix.

To make the green chilli and coriander dressing, place the onion, garlic and chilli in the bowl of a food processor. Process until finely chopped. Add the herbs, lemon zest and juice to the processor and process until smooth.

Add the oil and season to taste.

Remove from the processor and stir through the buttermilk.

To make the Cajun chilli spice mix, combine all ingredients in a jar and store in a cool, dry place for up 6 months.

Note

• We have explained how to trim the chicken for this recipe but if you have a good butcher get him to do all the hard work for you. Otherwise this recipe would work really well with just using chicken wings, discard the wing tips and cut the wing into 2 pieces. As the pieces are smaller when using the wings you will need to cut down the cooking time to approximately 8–10 minutes depending on the size of the wings.

Photography by Petrina Tinslay, styling by David Morgan and art direction by Anne Marie Cummins.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.