The Twice Fried Chicken Experiment

This is why I can't be thin again.

Twice fried chicken is one of the current food fads with Bonchon, Chicken Charlie and Manang's in the forefront. I am addicted to twice fried chicken (TFC from now on). Frying chicken twice results in a crispier and paper-thin skin which I love. The sauce is also amazing! I love love love it! The only problem is, I'm no longer residing in Taft where all three are very accessible. Sometimes I feel the need to have some TFC in my tummy but am too lazy to drive or has no one to go with so I just resign  myself to the feeling of emptiness only TFC can fill. So I decided to do something about it. Why not try to make one at home? I don't mean to brag but I usually am good at experimenting with food. I was successful with my Cayenne Calamares and Beer&Bacon pancakes (I might post the recipe one of these days), why not push my luck a bit further? After watching numerous youtube videos, and reading various recipes, I decided to try making TFC with elements from my resources and decided to add my own twist which resulted to my own unique soy garlic recipe.

Recipe

Fried Chicken:

• Chicken (preferably legs or wings)
• Salt & Pepper
• All-purpose flour
• Oil for frying

Soy Garlic Sauce:

• 2/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp pure olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 13 tsp muscovado sugar
• 4 tsp strawberry wine
• A little more than 1/8 cup of water

Procedure:

1. Marinate your chicken with salt & pepper at least 30 minutes before you start frying. The longer you marinate, the better.
2. Heat your frying pan with enough oil in high heat. Coat the chicken lightly with all-purpose flour while waiting for the oil to heat up.
3. Test whether your oil is hot enough by dipping a piece of chicken. If the oil bubbles on the area where you dipped the chicken, the oil is already hot enough. Fry the chicken for 10 minutes on high heat.
4. After 10 minutes, take out the chicken from the oil and wait another 10 minutes before you fry it again. Fry it until golden brown. This usually take another 10-12 minutes.
5. Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan. Add the onion and saute until soft.
6. Add the garlic and saute for about 3-5 minutes
7. Add the rest of the ingredients.
8. Mix until it starts to boil. Simmer for 2 minutes more.
9. Strain the sauce and coat the chicken with it. You could put some chicken and sauce in a big container and shake it.

I am not recommending that you follow this recipe to the letter rather, tweak it according to your own taste. Don't be afraid to experiment! Also, because the sauce was a stressful ordeal for me because I really didn't follow a recipe for that one since most recipes I encountered required ingredients I didn't have like Mirin or Potato flour. My recipe was mostly improvisation so my measurements may not have been accurate though I used measuring cups and spoons. This is because I kept adding something until I finally got the taste that I wanted. Some people may find the strawberry wine a weird ingredient but in our family it is not. It is a staple of our adobo and other dishes. The strawberry wine adds a distinct kind of subtle sweetness when added to dishes. I know not everyone's cupboard has a stash of strawberry wine but since the holidays are coming up, I'm pretty sure you know at least one person if not yourself who'll go to Baguio. Strawberry wine is pretty cheap and would cost you less than a hundred bucks. Also, don't be fooled by how pink or red the wine is. The bright red color is just coloring and does not say anything about the quality of the wine. Most vendors offer a free taste so base it on that. My mom and I love adding alcohol to our food. Not because we want to get hammered (alcohol becomes impotent when cooked) but because of the different flavors it adds. I cook bacon with Bacardi (try it!) and add beer to pancakes. Experimentation pays off.

I only used 5 drumsticks so I ended up with extra sauce

I could eat the chicken already even without the sauce

Soy Garlic Sauce with Strawberry Wine :)

Don't forget to strain the sauce! 

The strawberry wine I used was my debut souvenir surplus. That or  the bottle is a Twilight vampire.

Paint Splatter Nail Art

Recently, I have been paying a lot more attention to my nails. Specially since I am now out of nursing and I used to just cut my nails and a transparent polish if I'm not lazy. This is the explosion of repressed nails. LOL. I found the tutorial on youtube (Oh, the things I learn there.) and tried to do my own spin. Instead of the white base color, I used Caronia Claret which is a hot pink shade because I thought it would add more pop. I used BNC (there was no color indicated but it is the blue one) and Bobbie Pina Colada for the paint splatters. I also only painted two splatters because I thought it would look very cluttered (I know that's the point) because of the already colorful background. 

The day I pawned a Guardian Angel.

Everybody's been asking me how my car accident involving my Megatron (a Honda city) and a Guardian Angel bus and it gets so tiring to tell the story again and again so I'm going to blog about it.

So, I was driving along Espana from Taft and the lane I was in (innermost lane) was too slow so I decided to switch lanes. I'd like to believe I'm a good driver so I act like one. After signalling that that I will change lanes and checked my side mirror to check that there are no incoming cars, I made my turn when this bus from the outermost lane turned quickly without signalling to the lane I was getting in and cut in front of me (middle lane. There are three lanes in Espana if you're confused.). I quickly pushed on my brakes but the bus still got me and a loud noise was heard. The bus didn't stop and kept on going. I thought that the bus just moved in order to get out of the way of traffic so I pulled over and immediately got out of the car to check Megatron's injuries. Before I even got to the area that's supposed to be damaged, I noticed that the bus didn't pull over as I though but instead just kept on going. As soon as I saw the massive damage to my baby's bumper my vision went red. I jumped in my car and chased the bus. The bus driver noticed I was tailing him so he sped off and pursuit ensued. I chased the bus in alleyways, I even crashed into crates, a boy in a bike lost his balance and somehow chickens were flying. I finally caught up with the bus and bumped into it until it stopped. As soon as it stopped, I Mcgyvered an RPG out of Tic Tacs, rubber bands and my clearance form. I then turned my car around so Megatron doesn't have to see what I'm about to do. I fired the RPG and walked away in slow motion while putting on my sunglasses I suddenly had from the explosion.

Pictured: Badassery

I then looked at Megatron and he appeared to be what I imagined a car crying manly. I then patted his hood and said, "Hush, everything's going to be alright." Then we drove into the sunset.

(This is a true story. Why are there no press coverage of such epic badassery? I obviously killed all witnesses. Even the chickens.)