Kentucky Fried Chick'n - Chef Recipe by Gaz Oakley

Ingredients

The Chick'n Wet:

170 g (1 cup) firm tofu
120 ml (1/2 cup) soy milk
1 tsp miso paste
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt

The Chick'n Dry:

115 g (1 cup) seitan (vital wheat gluten)
25 g (1/4 cup) chickpea (gram) flour

Broth:

1 L (4 cups) Vegetable Stock
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 onion, quartered
Pinch sea salt and pepper

Kentucky Coating:

120 g (1 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
60 g (1 cup) panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp unrefined caster (superfine) sugar
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cracked black pepper
1 Tbs cayenne pepper
1 Tbs dried chilli flakes
1 Tbs dried oregano
1 Tbs paprika
1 Tbs dried sage
1 tsp ground allspice

Batter:

100 g (1 cup) chickpea (gram) flour
240 ml (1 cup) water
1 L (4 cups) vegetable oil, for frying

Method

First up, you will need to make the chickn pieces. Combine all the wet ingredients in a blender and blitz until smooth.
Put the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Add the wet mix to the bowl and stir until the mixture forms a dough. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface lightly floured with chickpea flour.

Knead the dough for at least 8 minutes. This is the most important part of the recipe. If you don’t knead it properly, you will be left with horrible, spongy seitan. (I have gone as far as pounding the seitan dough with my fists!)

Once kneaded, the dough will be quite firm and elastic. Form it into a rectangle around 1cm (3/8 inch) thick and cut it into 4. Set aside to rest for 10 minutes whilst you prepare the cooking broth.

Add all the broth ingredients to a large, lidded saucepan and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down so that the broth is just lightly simmering.

Add the seitan pieces to the broth and pop the lid on. Simmer the seitan pieces for 35 minutes in the simmering broth (do not let it boil). Flip the seitan pieces over halfway through cooking.

After the 35 minutes, remove the seitan pieces from the broth and set aside to cool. They should have almost doubled in size and feel quite meaty. Once cool, tear or cut them into smaller pieces ready to be covered in the Kentucky coating. I like to tear the pieces as this creates rough edges for the coating to cling on to.

For the Kentucky coating, stir all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. For the batter, mix the chickpea flour and water together in a separate bowl.

Now its time to individually dip the seitan pieces – first into the chickpea batter then into the coating. I double dip them to make sure they have a nice thick coating. Once you’ve coated all of the pieces, put them on a plate in the fridge while you heat the oil.

If youre using a deep-fat fryer, set it to 180°C (350°F). Alternatively, pour the oil into a large saucepan but don’t fill it more than half full.

To test if the oil is hot enough in the saucepan, drop a cube of bread into the oil – if it floats to the top straight away, the oil is ready. Carefully fry the chickn pieces for 3–4 minutes, or until golden and crisp.

If you’d prefer to bake the chickn pieces, bake for 25 minutes in an oven set at 180°C (350°F).

Once cooked, transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper to soak up any excess oil. Serve immediately.

Credits: This is an edited extract from Vegan 100 by Gaz Oakley published by Quadrille RRP $29.99 and is available in stores nationally.