~ SPICY ZINGER BURGER ~

Customer: [to Ed] Excuse me? Look, I ordered one Good Burger with nothing on it.

Ed: That’s what I gave you.

Customer: No! You gave me a bun. Just a bun! Look! There’s no meat in here.

Ed: But you said you wanted nothing on it.

Customer: Yes, but I expected a meat patty!

Ed: Dude, a meat patty is something. You said “nothing”.

[to Fizz]

Ed: Fizz, is a meat patty something or nothing?

Fizz: Uh, something?

Ed: I win!

Customer: That’s it! I am reporting your name to the manager!

Ed: The manager already knows my name.

Customer: [while throwing the bun down] And I’ll see you in Hell!

[Leaves]

Ed: OK! See you there! —  (1992 – Good Burger) 

KFC was where it all began, with a man name Sanders. He created this magnificent crispy and crackling of a chicken fillet and decided to serve it with a bread bun, at a SHELL gas station in Kentucky he worked at occupying a total number of 6 cafe tables. This was in 1930, when the world was witnessing an upheaval of universal events from raging wars to countries striving and fighting for Independence and the decade of The Great Depression. Amongst the chaos of the changing world, Sanders had introduced a phenomenal recipe, something unique, something the world had never known and the significance of which he himself was unaware of. The world was changing and so was his life. His recipe intrigued customers and in 1936 he was awarded with an honorary title of ‘Colonel’ by the Governor of Kentucky. A few years later a dear friend of his visited him and tasted his famous Kentucky Chicken and saw an opportunity, priceless, and opened Sanders very first Franchise in Utah in 1952. The little cafe in Kentucky known as “Sanders Court and Cafe” in a decade of Depression  was now introduced to the new emerging and progressing world as “Colonel Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken”. In the 50’s the world had changed, with the end of wars and depression and countries gaining independence, advancements in technology, introduction of the first coloured TV, the vaccine for polio was introduced, Princess Elizabeth was crowned Queen at age 25, it was a decade of Sputnik and Elvis Presley. Of all the discoveries and events, KFC marked it’s place in history. Decades later, even perhaps they didn’t know, it would shape and configure the concept of Fast Food in the rising Modern World. Jean Anthelme Brillat Savaran is known as history’s  greatest food critic who lived in the 18th century and died 104 years prior to the birth of KFC. He rightly said, “the discovery of a new dish does more for the human happiness than the discovery of a new star”. I think he forecasted Sanders dream and what it would mean to the world we now live in presently. There are uncountable blessings in the world and Sanders little cafe in 1930 is one of them. 

The recipe is pretty simple and straight forward. The only cooking required is with the Chicken Fillet and toasting of the buns. I would highly recommend using a sesame coated bun because once the bun is toasted the crunch and flavour of the sesame seed with the crunchy, crackling yet intensely moist and juicy zinger chicken is symphony. Infact, the tomatoes, the Burger relish or garlic mayo sauce and the lettuce are extremely accommodating. If I take any of these out, my Zinger seems lonely. Obviously, having said that, you can add pickles, jalapenos, cucumbers, cheese slices or any other fixing that you fancy with it but me personally love my zinger with just these three. 

For the coating, I double coat the fillet for a crunched crust and texture and it is very important that the heat of the flame is not too high, otherwise the crust will cook quickly and start to burn as to the Chicken which won’t be cooked properly, and, ofcourse we don’t want that. So, take care you are deep frying on medium high heat. Also, the Chicken fillets need to be hammered flat with a rolling pin or a kitchen hammer, whichever you have to help them cook quicker and stay juicier. The way I did it was I slit one boneless piece of chicken breast into two and then pounded them flat, so one piece is quite large but enough for one bun. Hence, when you fry these, depending on your fry pan size, fry one or maximum two at a time and not over crowd the frying pan. My fry pan wasn’t so big so I fried one at a time and then put it on a wire rack. Placing them on the wire rack will prevent the crust from going soggy and the chicken will stay nice and crispy. Lastly, coming to the wet coating, I have experienced that Buttermilk helps moisten and retain the juices of the chicken while frying. If you don’t have butter milk, it is quite easy to make, for 1 cup of milk add 1 tsp of vinegar and let it stand for 5 minutes. The milk will curdle and that is your basic homemade buttermilk. For The dry coating, I always add one chicken stock cube by crumbling it into the flour. This gives the flavour of the crust a pleasant kick.

I can tell you this for sure, when that chicken is frying in your pan, the fragrances of the spices and the cooking of the crust, is breath taking. Believe you me, you will be munching on the Chicken even before you start assembling your burgers which is really not a bad idea. This recipe can make crispy chicken fingers as a whole dish on its own. Try it. I can bet you will love it. And ofcourse the Asian twist is always there. I added Hot Sirarcha Sauce to the marinade but any hot sauce will do just fine. It really kicks it up a notch. 

As Ed says in the 1992 Family-Comedy ‘Good Burger’, “Welcome to Good Burger, home of Good Burger! Can I take your order?” 

Serves 4 

Ingredients ~ 

2 – Boneless Chicken Breasts 

Chicken Marinade ~ 

4 tbsp — Sirarcha Hot sauce (or any)

1 tsp — Mustard Paste 

1/4 tsp — Salt 

1/4 tsp — Red chilli Flakes 

1 tsp — Soya Sauce 

1 tbsp — Honey 

1 tsp — ginger garlic sauce

Dry Coating ~ 

1 cup – Self-rising Flour 

4 tbsp – Rice Flour 

3 tbsp – Corn Starch 

1 – Chicken Stock cube 

1/4 tsp – Black Pepper 

Wet Coating ~ 

3/4 cup – Butter Milk 

1/4 tsp – Black Pepper 

1 – Egg

pinch – Salt 

Burger Fixings ~ 

 Sliced tomatoes 

 Lettuce 

Burger Sauce or Garlic Mayo 

4-5 Sesame Seed Buns 

Method ~ 

• Slit the 2 chicken breast into 4 pieces. 
• Put them in between two cling films and with the help of a rolling pin, hammer them flat. it is okay if the Chicken breaks a little as it will cook together in the coating.
• In one dish prepare the marinade by mixing together hot sauce, musturd paste, ginger garlic paste, honey, Red Chilli Flakes and salt.
• Marinade the Chicken pieces in it and leave for 10 minutes. 
• In a second dish mix together the dry ingredients together, four, rice flour, cornstarch, crumbled chicken stock cube and black pepper. 
• In a third dish whisk together the Wet ingredients i.e. Butter Milk  (if you don’t have any on hand, mix 1 tsp of vinegar to 1 cup if milk and let stand for 5 minutes), a pinch of salt and black pepper  and 1 egg. 
• Coat the Chicken in the dry ingredients first and pat off any excess flour. Let sit for 5 minutes. 
• Coat the Chicken Fillets in the wet ingredients and then again into the dry Ingredients. 
• Heat enough oil in a deep fry pan to deep fry the chicken fillets on medium high heat. 
• Fry until the crust becomes golden in colour and the chicken in cooked through. 
• Leave to rest on a wire rack. 
• Butter the inside of the buns and toast them on a Fry pan or they can roasted in the oven for 4-6 minutes. 
• Spread any sauce, burger relish sauce, garlic mayo sauce or just plain mayo and ketchup on the bottom. 
• Place a lettuce leaf and sliced tomatoes and add the Zinger on top. 
• Spread some more burger sauce on top and place the top on. 
• Serve with French fries or coleslaw on the side. 

Happy Foodieating ~