Super crispy breading that’s perfectly seasoned and holds its crisp even after refrigerated, doesn’t require any dairy, eggs or their vegan equivalents (just water) and doesn’t come out greasy, heavy or oil-laden. That’s what this recipe is. Pure fried delight for whatever you wanna fry up. I really suggest just making a huge batch and throwing it in the pantry so you can scoop and use whenever you need it (the recipe will coat about 1kg | 2lbs of food) and save yourself some time down the line.
There are quite a few ingredients here, but you can just measure them straight into the bowl and it doesn’t seem so overwhelming (again, make a bigger batch and you won’t have to do this every time you wanna fry something up). Unbleached all-purpose flour makes up the bulk, corn starch provides lightness and added crispiness, corn flour provides a little texture, baking soda and powder for rise, lactic or citric acid to assist in rise with the baking soda, onion and sugar for a touch of sweetness and to aid in browning. For the majority of the flavor we rely on creole seasoning, then we toss in some extra garlic, black pepper, and chile powder for some added depth and heat. You can use whatever chile powder you’d like, sweet paprika for extra mild, kashmiri for a tad bit of zing (and a lovely colour), cayenne for added heat, or chipotle for heat and smokiness….Use whatever you would like here, any of them (or others) will work just fine.
Just toss everything together and stir well, if you’re like me and like to know everything is mixed as much as possible (and/or if you’d like to remove any clumps) run it through a sifter after mixing. As i mentioned a few times before, you can make a giant batch of this and store it, it will keep, tightly sealed in a dark place for at least 3 months at room temp, or 6 months frozen. You don’t want to go beyond that as moisture will eventually make it’s way in and it won’t rise correctly and the flavours of the spices will muddy.
You can use this as you would any breading recipe, however you’d normally do it, egg wash, milk wash, whatever. However, i highly suggest you just use water and follow my directions here, you’ll end up with an insanely delectable texture (think big chicken chain extra crispy recipe, only lighter) that is just hard to beat. The directions may seem a little strange or different from what you’re used to, but they totally work wonders. The key is the final breading where you rub all the gloppy breading off your fingers (and in the bowl) into the dry mix, creating those perfect little crispy bits. Don’t skip it, club fingers covered in goop are a good thing this time!
Use this whenever you have a hankering for some crispy fried delicious noms, chicken fingers (i used some experimental fauxltry for this batch), country fried steak, fried green tomatoes, your socks, whatever, it will make anything taste good. Sometime soon i will be adding to this recipe to include directions for using it as a batter, which REALLY makes this an all-purpose mix, but it’s quite there yet and needs a few more tweaks, so go ahead and make up a bunch just to be ready, because you know you’re gonna want some beer battered onion rings, you just know you are. [you will you definitely will]
Also, if you like some extra heat and zing in yours, you can add some hot sauce into your dipping liquid, which will add a whole new dimension to everything. You’re welcome. Also, a little tip here that applies to anything you might be frying, do NOT overload your oil, fry in smaller batches so your oil temperature doesn’t fluctuate too much as that causes the food to come out greasy, you want the temp to stay as even as possible. Make sure to wait until the oil comes all the way back to temp before adding your next batch. You’ve been warned, so i don’t want to hear about any soggy greasy disasters, okay? Okay.