Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Ok I admit it. The waffle recipe from yesterday was actually just an excuse to finally try the soul food "Chicken and Waffles". And after the waffle part is already done, only the "chicken" is missing.

If you want to know more about Soul Food, i can only recommend you to read this interview with Adrian E. Miller.

Seitan serves as the basis for this, which I made the day before, so that it gets a better texture. You can of course also simply eat the "Fried Chicken" with French fries or on burgers, if the combination with waffles is too unusual for you.

Duration: 3.5 hours (plus 1 night)

Difficulty: easy

Makes 3-4 servings

Ingredients:

Seitan

200g silken tofu

1/2 can of chickpeas or white beans including liquid (about 120g beans + 80g liquid)

30g oil

3g apple cider vinegar

15g broth (preferably vegan "chicken broth")

5g salt

1g savory

10g yeast flakes/nooch

2g sugar

200g seitan fix / gluten powder

Broth

1500g water

20g broth (preferably vegan "chicken broth")

10g garlic (calmly with the peel)

5g salt

2 bay leaves

Buttermilk

500g soy milk

45g lemon juice

5g apple cider vinegar

1g pepper

7g salt

Pinch of oregano, thyme and rosemary

1g cayenne pepper

2g paprika powder

2g yeast flakes/nooch

Pinch of nutmeg

Flour mixture

250 g flour

10g salt

5g paprika / cayenne pepper in a mix according to your taste

3g onion powder

2g garlic powder

2g mustard flour

Pinch of pepper

Everything else

Waffles

150g maple syrup

5g chilli flakes (optional)

Oil for frying

Preparation:

It starts with the seitan, of course. To do this, weigh all the ingredients except for the gluten powder in your food processor or blender and mix them until you get a smooth, liquid mixture.

If that is the case, you can add the gluten powder and mix on the highest possible level for 3-4 minutes. If your food processor cannot do this or if you have any other concerns about the performance of your machine, simply mix the liquid with the gluten powder by hand. Then simply halve or third the dough and let the machine process the individual dough pieces. If you have a machine with dough hooks instead of blades, the dough will probably take longer, I estimate more like 8-10 minutes, until it develops a bit of a gum-like consistency.

While the dough is being processed in the machine, the broth can be prepared. To do this, simply weigh all the ingredients in a large saucepan and bring it to a boil.

If you can't find a vegan "chicken broth", that is of course not an issue either, the whole thing tastes good with vegetable broth. ;)

Then form 9-12 "chicken" pieces from the seitan. Of course you can also just make small flatbreads, but I also wanted to test a few "legs" and "wings". Then add the seitan pieces to the hot broth and let them simmer for 45 minutes on reduced heat. They will swim to the surface, so stir them every now and then so that everything is cooked evenly.

When the time is up, you can take the seitan out of the water, let it cool down a bit and then dry it off well with a kitchen roll (maybe even squeeze it out). Then the particles are allowed to rest in the refrigerator overnight. You should not skip this step, if you continue to use the seitan directly, the result will not be nearly as good.

The next day you can pat the particles dry again. Then the "buttermilk" is mixed. To do this, simply mix the (soy) milk with the lemon juice and apple cider vinegar. You can also just use lemon juice, but I think the vinegar gives the whole thing the right note. Stir the liquids together and let them stand for 3 minutes. The milk should become noticeably thicker and the proteins should flocculate a little. Then you can stir in the remaining ingredients.

Pour it over the seitan and let it steep in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

In the meantime I've already made the flour mixture in which the seitan is then breaded. To do this, mix all the ingredients carefully with the flour.

When the seitan has stirred enough, toss the seitan pieces with the "buttermilk" that sticks to the pieces into the flour mixture and swirl them around.

In theory, you can bread it twice for even more crispy breading. Simply put them back in the "buttermilk" after the first breading and then again in the flour mixture. You then do that with all the particles. In the meantime, oil can be heated in a deep fryer or a saucepan and then fried in the seitan. I took a mixture of high temperature sunflower oil and peanut oil.

Then you fry the individual pieces until they are golden brown and crispy.

Then your "Buttermilk Fried Chicken" is ready and can be enjoyed by you.

If you want to make "chicken and waffles" out of it, just bake a few waffles while the seitan is deep-fried. I also heated maple syrup with 5g chilli flakes (Gochugaru) to give it a spicy note.

Then you just have to serve the seitan with the waffles and pour the maple syrup over them.

And then this delicious soul food is ready.

Guten Appetit!

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