Whenever we wanted to eat Grease less Fried Chicken, only one restaurant pops up in my mind instantly. Papa Ching’s Restaurant.

Not ordering their best seller chicken is like making the meal utterly lacking. What I really like about their fried chicken is that it is  crispy on the outside, and juicy on the inside. It is cooked perfectly, that you need not worry to see a gash of blood  when you slice into the chicken.  Most importantly however, the recipe has been perfected that you get the same taste, texture and tenderness from your greaseless chicken every-time  all the time. So how do they achieve such consistency?  The curious cook in me immediately went out on a quest to find out the answers, and here is a transcript of my experiment.

First, choose the right chicken. For this recipe, look for a Spring Chicken. This is normally the Cornish Game Hen variety, but our trusty supermarket Broiler Chicken could do the trick as well, just make sure to have one that’s about 4-6 weeks old or that which weighs less than 1Kilo.

The term “grease less” does not necessarily mean the absence of cooking oil. Grease, is actually  fat that comes out of the meat during the cooking process. Take a bacon for example and put it in a frying pan without cooking oil. A few minutes after it is heated, oil comes out from the bacon. This is the grease that we are talking about.

Now, for the chicken to be free from its grease, there is a need to steam it first. Steaming takes away the grease normally present in the chicken while tenderizing the meat. Steaming would be a good step rather than boiling the chicken because boiled chicken will have very hard meat the moment it is fried. It is also a good idea to put in some bay leaves and parsley or even lemon grass (Tanglad) in the water used for steaming to give the chicken a good aroma. Steam for a good 45 minutes.

After steaming, let the chicken cool down or put it in the chiller for about 30 minutes. Then, rub in salt and pepper, and dust it with a very thin layer of flour. At this time, pre-heat oil in a deep fryer or pot for about 360 deg F (or about 182 deg C). This is the  most important secret in frying the chicken. Any more or less of the temperature of the oil will greatly affect the crispness of the chicken. Then, deep fry for 12-15 minutes, or until the crackling sound of the oil stops. Be careful not to over fry the chicken, since it was already pre-cooked during the time it was steamed.

Drain oil by resting the fried chicken in a strainer before serving. To take away more oil, pat the chicken with a paper towel before serving.  And there you have it, the Grease-less style Fried Chicken ala Papa Ching’s. Pair it will a generous serving of rice, with salad on the side and Banana Ketchup with Worcestershire Sauce as condiment … and don’t forget to say grace before eating!

I hope this tip would work out for you as well. If it did, it would be happy to hear about it. 😀

The Grace Before Meals.