So last night i was really looking forward to making a chinese chicken lemon dish and when i made it, it went all wrong. Everyone was looking forward to it and i had to throw it all away.
Basically, when i deep fried the chicken pieces after being in the batter, i topped it with the lemon sauce. When it was ready to eat, i noticed that the pieces were extremely soft and the texture was shreddy. Not sure how to explain it but i cooked it over and over again (in the end, the lemon chicken got ruined because of the over cooking) but still couldnt get this softness to go away. Now you know when you make chicken tikkay, the botiyan are soft and succulent - these werent. These just felt kacha. You could even mash it up and they would easily get squashed. WHY? HOW?
And the my mil had the perfect opportunity to say that its because i dont get fresh meat and that is why it happened?
Can someone enlighten me as to why this happened? I hope i made sense!
Did you fry the chicken on high flame? This could be the reason because when chicken has some sort of coating it needs to be friied at low to medium heat, normally for 8-10 minutes(really depends on the recipe). If you fry it on high flame, the chicken will stay kacha but the coating will be burned/overcooked.
CA - I deep fried the chicken on medium heat until brown. Sometimes, when the chicken is not cooken properly - i microwave it. The first time when i realised the chicken is kacha, i fried it high on high heat - but that was burning the sauce - i did this twice and in the end it got so ruined - i had to throw it away.
NN - I have cooked this dish 2-3 times before and it has turned out really good but not this time. I dont know...maybe when i making the chicken into cubes..it felt extra soft but thought it will be ok after cooking. Hmmm...maybe it is the chicken. Now i have to flipping buy the meat every week - i hope i get the same problem so i can SHOW my mil its not the freshness of the chicken but just a bad chicken on that occasion.
SE, maybe u cut the pieces-up too big? And yeah try a slower flame, I know chicken cooks really fast on the outside and remains raw from the inside :S Best of luck!
I say cook on lower flame until its well cooked. Also maybe try smaller pieces next time unless you already do that. Koi baat nahi yaar, aisa hota hai, no ones perfect and cooks perfectly all the time, i bet not even your MIL.
Gina & Ira - chicken pieces were small - and they were cooked on slow heat. i just want to know that even tho i overcooked the chicken, why did it taste kacha? Why did it have that raysha feeling?
Lusi i dont think it was the batter - ooohh maybe it was...
this time it was 2 eggs, cornflour, and baking powder.
Actually come to think of it when i make this dish before, i use the normal batter - you know...dip in flour and egg and then deep fry ----- could this be the reason why it went all horribly wrong?
Sunset Eyes, so i understand that u r worried about your inlaws take on your cooking skills. Why? U r marreid now, run your own household, shouldnt really matter what they think if u r now queen of your own house and they come as guests?
I wouldnt allow myself to get wound up about what MIL says.
Lusi i dont think it was the batter - ooohh maybe it was...
this time it was 2 eggs, cornflour, and baking powder.
Actually come to think of it when i make this dish before, i use the normal batter - you know...dip in flour and egg and then deep fry ----- could this be the reason why it went all horribly wrong?
I think it has to do the way you cooked it. I guess the oil you fried the chicken in wasn't hot enough and that is why the chicken probably had the kacha taste.
Sunset Eyes, so i understand that u r worried about your inlaws take on your cooking skills. Why? U r marreid now, run your own household, shouldnt really matter what they think if u r now queen of your own house and they come as guests?
I wouldnt allow myself to get wound up about what MIL says.
MIL jst commented on my food as usual...but what do you mean by the above?
Please Mods change the title.
Why? I was trying to correct the grammer but couldnt - sorry?
I think it has to do the way you cooked it. I guess the oil you fried the chicken in wasn't hot enough and that is why the chicken probably had the kacha taste.
Just make sure that oil has properly heated, when you drop the chicken the heat under the pan is mediumish. At times also covering the pan for few mins also helps as the steam produced helps cook the chicken throughly.