Paleo Cajun Fried Chicken (served with green chili coriander sauce)

by lisa | 13 July 2013 10:14

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I loved my grandpa more than anything. He always made me feel like I was his favorite person in the world.  He and my grandma were farmers for many years and some of my very first memories are of being on their farm and hearing the coffee percolating in the morning. After they sold their farm, they became truckers and drove a big yellow and green Mayflower truck. I can’t tell you how excited I would get when that truck pulled up in front of my house. He just did things that I’ll never forget. When I was taking a foreign language in high school, he went to the library and checked out a dictionary in that language and then wrote me a whole postcard. One year for Christmas, he put a riddle on each one of my presents that I had to solve before I could open the gift.

My grandparents were both quite the cooks in the kitchen.They introduced me to cream cheese and fried zucchini. They also taught me how to play poker, but that’s a whole other story! I baked my first ever cake with my grandma, who always let me lick the spoon. My grandfather made me a cookbook when I was about 20. He typed it all out on a typewriter and included fun little bits of trivia and information along with his super delicious recipes. I pulled it out the other day just so I could read his words.

On one of his many visits, he was on a mission to recreate Kentucky Fried Chicken. He was sure he could do it. He made batch after batch and destroyed my mother’s kitchen in the process. That’s one of the last times I remember eating fried chicken. I ran across a very non-paleo cajun fried chicken recipe the other day (after I had been looking at my grandpa’s cookbook) and decided that I just really needed to make some fried chicken. I think it might even have turned out as good as my grandpa’s KFC copycat. This truly was “Finger Lickin’ Good” chicken. This did take some time, but it wasn’t complicated and the mess was not as bad as I expected.

I kind of want to deep fry everything now. 

I served this up with a Green Chili Coriander Sauce, but to be honest with you, I didn’t put any sauce on my chicken after the first bite. The sauce is delicious and very flavorful, but the the chicken was so good that I didn’t want to cover it up with anything. I’m saving the sauce to pour over a steak salad for lunch.

 

Ingredients

Cajun Spice Mix (Makes 1/3 cup)

• 1 Tablespoon sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
• 1/2 Tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/2 Tablespoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 Tablespoon salt

For the Chicken Part

• 2 1/2 pounds chicken. We used 4 chicken thighs @600 grams and 6 chicken wings @500 grams. Bone in, skin left on the wings but removed from the thighs.
• 1 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Cajun spice mix, divided
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup arrowroot flour
• 450 grams (16 oz) coconut oil or lard for frying

Instructions

For the Cajun spice mix:

Mix everything together and blend well. You will need 1 1/2 to 2 Tablespoons for this recipe and you will still have leftover spice for other recipes. Store in a cool dry place for up to 6 months.

For the chicken:

Wash and pat dry the chicken. Rub the chicken with about 1 Tablespoon of the Cajun spice mix. I layed out all the pieces, sprinkled 1/2 Tbs spice, rubbed it in, flipped the chicken and sprinkled and rubbed again.
Place the chicken in a zip lock bag and refrigerate for 2 hours or longer. If you are impatient, you could shorten this.

For the frying:

1. Whisk the coconut milk and eggs together in a medium bowl.
2. Mix the coconut flour, arrowroot flour and 1/2-1 Tablespoon of the Cajun spice mix together in a shallow dish.
3. Now you will flour-egg-flour-fry.
4. That means dip each piece of chicken in the flour/spice mixture.
5. Next dip it in the egg and coconut milk mixture.
6. Now dip it in the flour again.
   

   Dipping the chicken

7. Now put it in the hot oil. We heated the oil in a large deep pan over medium heat.
   

   Coconut oil

8. We fried the chicken in batches. The chicken needs to fry for about 10 minutes, turning as it browns.
   

   Takes about 10-12 minutes in the oil

9. Remove the fried chicken to drain on paper towels and then place on a foil lined baking tray in a warm oven while you continue to fry.
   

   Drain on paper towels

   

   Fried chicken that really tastes like old fashioned fried chicken

    

 

Source URL: https://swisspaleo.ch/paleo-cajun-fried-chicken-served-with-green-chili-coriander-sauce/

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