Mixing in the chicken and frying

I am frying the chicken and batter in lard. Before I use lard, I always smell it to make sure it smells good. I keep my open lard in the refrigerator so it lasts a long time. As a side note I make my lard and can it, so it is shelf stable.

I cook the battered chicken in a shallow wider pan, which allows me to flip the chicken over. You can also use a deep frier or deep pan. I prefer the ability to flip each piece individually.

Cooking the chicken and batter.

Drop pieces of the chicken into the batter and coat them. Then drop each piece into the hot oil. Once brown, flip the piece to the other side. The pre-cooked chicken doesn’t take long to fry. Be mindful of the heat of the oil. Adjust the temperature so the pieces cook fast, but that the oil doesn’t get too hot and burn. If you use raw meat, you will need to cook the chicken batter drops longer.

You can use this batter with any meat raw or cooked such as rabbit, beef, venison, bison, goat, lamb, etc. The batter is also versatile enough to use on any vegetable you want to fry. If you like dipping fried food in a dressing like blue cheese or ranch, it is amazing that way too.

Once I’m done with all the chicken coated in batter, I fry up the rest of the batter in the oil. I drop a teaspoon full at a time into the oil, let it cook on one side, then flip it to the other. The dough batter needs to cook longer than the chicken batter, because they are solid and you want the inside cooked as well.

Making the vegetable and rice steamfry.

I call this a steam fry because I am using water, and the steam from the water to reheat all the leftovers into another meal. When I originally cooked the potato mix, I don’t remember what type of sauce I made for it. I don’t want tons of different flavors, so water is a neutral flavor with liquid, allowing me to reheat the food.

First, I put water into the pan and let it heat up. I added half of a cut up fresh onion, and let it cook. While that’s cooking, I scrambled two eggs, adding Moringa to them for more vitamins, and scrambled the egg mix. In the main pan, once the onions were soft, I added the potatoes and sauce, and cut up mushrooms, then set the rice on top.

Since I am using frozen broccoli, I don’t want the broccoli to touch the hot cast iron pan. Putting frozen food into a hot cast iron pan can break them. I did this once years ago, when I had a hot pan and threw in a frozen stick of butter. Not a pretty sight.

The broccoli has been out on the counter for about an hour, so it’s not completely frozen anymore, but I don’t want to risk it. I place the broccoli on top of the rice so it doesn’t touch the pan and cover, allowing the steam from the water to finish defrosting the broccoli.

Once the broccoli is warm, I stirred everything together, adding the egg mix, and a little more water for easy stirring. The water also allows the flavors of the sauce to mix in well. Yes, it waters it down some, but it will still be nice. Once hot, it’s taste test time.

It needed salt, pepper, and garlic to make it perfect. The reason I don’t add any other spices until this step is because I have no clue what it tastes like. I don’t want to add flavors that do not go together. The added spices made it perfect. Now it’s time to eat.

It’s delicious. No, I will probably never have the exact flavor of this again, but that’s okay, too. Using up leftovers and things in the pantry is one of the easiest ways to not waste food for the humans. Sure, leftovers can go to the animals too, but the humans need to come first.

Next time you have things to use up in the refrigerator, pantry, or freezer, go make a new concoction. It will be amazing!