Walking amongst the stalls and colourful food trucks of the Taste of DC festival, I enjoyed many delicious confections and concoctions. My favourite was the outrageous diner classic, chicken and waffles. Yes, that is what it sounds like. A densely soft, sweetened waffle, topped with spicy southern fried chicken fillets, smothered with icing sugar and maple syrup. I have to confess to having reservations about this dish but the Americans know what they’re talking about. The hot, spicy, crunchy (dare-I-say) greasy chicken is perfectly offset by the smooth, sweet accompaniments. Meat and sweet works – don’t limit yourself to pork on this matter.
However I am well aware that many people will be worried about the horrific calorie count, so I have made a few moderations to the recipe. For example I am baking my Chicken tenders. I am also aware of the fact that many people will not have a waffle iron – I do have a problem with single-us gadgets cluttering up kitchen space. So my waffles are simply cooked in a cast iron griddle pan. This still provides some interesting markings, but is a more common kitchen staple.
Level: high
Methods: batter making, pane
Skills: sautéing, baking
Time: 1 hour
Makes: around 4-6 servings
Ingredients
For the crispy chicken fillets:
350g chicken fillets
2 eggs, beaten
1tsp hot sauce (like Tabasco)
1tsp Worcestershire sauce
250g plain flour
3tbsp cornflour
1tsp smoked paprika
1/2tsp cayenne pepper
2tsp black pepper
1tsp salt
1/2tsp garlic powder
2tbsp milk
2tbsp vegetable oil
For the waffles:
2 eggs
300ml milk
225g self-raising flour
2tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
100g unsalted butter, melted a, 1 tsp butter for frying
Method
1. Preheat oven to 220°C.
2. Line a baking tray with parchment and brush over one tablespoon of oil.
3. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, hot sauce and Worcestershire and set aside.
4. Next fill a large plastic sandwich bag with the flour, corn flour, paprika, cayenne, black pepper, salt and garlic powder. Shake to mix well.
5. Drizzle milk into the flour and use a fork to mix it into the flour. This creates an uneven crumb which will crisp better in the oven.
6. Dip each chicken tender into the flour mixture and then into the egg wash.
7. When complete, toss all of the chicken pieces back into the flour and jumble up to give an extra crispy coating.
8. Arrange each piece on the baking tray and leave to rest for 10-15 minutes.
9. This gives you time to make your waffle batter. Crack the eggs into a bowl, add the milk and whisk to combine.
10.Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt then whisk until fully combined.
11. Add the cooled melted butter and fold it through. Do not over mix or your batter will be tough.
12. Next, drizzle the tops of the rested chicken fillets with your remaining oil.
13. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked throughout.
14. To finish the waffles, place your griddle pan over a high heat, add a teaspoon of butter and as soon as it’s melted pour in 3-4 rounds of batter.
15. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook the waffles for around 5 minutes on each side, or until lightly golden brown and cooked through.
16. Give the waffle an extra couple of minutes to crisp up if needed then put on a plate.
17. Top with the crispy chicken fillets and douse liberally in maple syrup.
Mastication / Destination 