Cooking The Books

Keu, Old St for some Banh Mi

When I first found the Vietnamese restauarants of London's East End I fell in love.  They were my first experience of the country's cuisine and I was smitten from day one.  The zing of lime, the heat of chili, the pungency of fish sauce and the freshness of herbs combined into a cacophany of flavour that was familiar yet altogether different from anything I'd had before.  Fast forward a few years and I was lucky enough to spend a month in Vietnam, travelling north to south the entire length of the country and getting to eat all the dishes, and more, than I'd fallen for back home.  This was a blessing but also a curse.  Upon returning to London all my favourite Shoreditch haunts suddenly weren't as nice as I remembered.  Chilies had lost their heat, lime it's zing, fish sauce was altogether less pungent and herbs were limp.  I still enjoyed most of them, don't get me wrong, but it was like my window into Vietnamese cuisine needed a damn good clean.

One restaurant that continued to shine though was Viet Grill, so when I heard recently (and by recently I mean about 11 o'clock this morning) they had opened Keu, a banh mi shop, I was over there like a flash.  Two tube lines and 7 stations later I was stood in front of a rather nice looking building.  Stepping inside the dark wood, dark tile and exposed brick should have been far more imposing than it was but the full-size front windows left a lovely, bright space.  The large counter concealed trays full of ingredients and stacks of banh mi & croissants, the numerous staff stood in front of shelves of srichacha & mayonnsaise (the Japanese Kewpie, which surprised me) and a stainless steel trolley proudly hanging a pair of roast ducks. 

First impressions were good and a glance at the menu did nothing to change this.  To go with the banh mi a selection of rice based dishes were available, a salad section concealing the de facto summer rolls.  To wash it all down there are fresh juices and smoothies, coffee (Vietnamese and more usual preparations) or some bottled beverages, Fentimans springs to mind.  If this wasn't enough a black board listed daily specials, both rice based and extra banh mi fillings.  There was food and drink galore.

I have trouble making my mind up at the best of times, although it was made easier as it was banh mi that had bought me here.  I decided to cover as many bases as possible and ordered the Keu Banh Mi - with its pork belly, Vietnamese luncheon meat and chicken liver pate - and took my seat.  The sandwich I was presented with was a thing of beauty, the dark golden bread concealing plenty of meat with cucumber, coriander and pickled vegetables providing some of my 5-a-day. Upon taking a bite my first impressions were the bread was verging on one of those crusty ones from Europe, the crumb had the light airiness one expects in a banh mi but the crust was thicker than I remember them being over there, requiring a bit more of a bite to get through.  Once I was through it though the sandwich was very well balanced, chewy rind on the pork belly giving way to creamy fat and soft meat, chicken liver pate pulling the whole thing together with its richness.  The sprinkling of Maggi on the pickled vegetables didn't go unnoticed either.

I decided I wanted to pep up the heat so went for the srichacha on my table, which I noticed was the US made Rooster brand rather than something imported from Vietnam.  With Japanese mayonnaise, Californian chili and the French-feeling bread the purist in me was starting to play up a bit but in the battle between it and my tastebuds in the end the tastebuds won - the simple fact was this was a very, very tasty sandwich.  As I sat typing notes on my phone I really didn't want it to end and the mouthfuls got smaller and smaller as I tried to delay the inevitable, in the end I ordered some summer rolls too in an attempt to drag out my time there but whilst tasty they weren't more banh mi.  For that I am going to have to return, which I will. 

Keu

332 Old Street

London

EC1V 9DR

Buttermilk Biscuit, Fried Chicken, Cheese and Fried Onions

Sometimes a dish is so ridiculous you have to give it a go.  This is one of those times.

For anyone reading in the US, or Asia for that matter, the idea of fried chicken for breakfast won't sound so ridiculous, but over here in the UK it's simply unheard of.  Sticking it in a scone (a biscuit for our transatlantic cousins) adding some cheese and some fried onions just takes it to whole new levels of crazy.  My kind of crazy.

I found this whilst browsing the 19 best breakfast sandwiches on Serious Eats.  All the way through I kept thinking how great the sandwiches looked compared to our boring (albeit tasty) offerings over here.  This one particularly caught my eye though, mainly due to my fried chicken fetish.

 
I've made buttermilk biscuits and fried chicken before.  I used the prior biscuit recipe but decided to spice the chicken up a bit and as I sit here with slightly tingling lips from the chili (I've not hung around before blogging) I think it was a wise move.

So how does it taste?  Pretty much as you'd expect it to really.  Like a KFC that's been given the fairground burger van treatment, cheese slice and browned onions style.  Damn tasty, but I did feel a bit dirty whacking all that down having only been up 45 minutes.  I guess you can eat it whatever time of the day you please though.

Buttermilk Biscuit, Fried Chicken, Cheese and Fried Onions

Makes 2

2 Chicken Breasts

1 1/2 medium onions

200ml of buttermilk

Pinch of thyme

1 cup flour

1 ts garlic powder

1 ts chili powder

1 ts white pepper

1 ts salt

1 portion of biscuit recipe, here

2 cheese slices

Method

The night before eating finely slice half an onion, place in the buttermilk with the pinch of thyme and stick the chicken in to marinade.  It tenderises the chicken (not that a chicken breast isn't tender) and adds a lovely faint onion and thyme taste to it.

In the morning the first thing to do is make biscuits, instead of cutting into 4 though shape into a pair the right size for chicken breasts.

Whilst the biscuits are cooking slice the remaining onion and fry on a low heat for about 15 minutes, till brown and sticky.

Heat 1.5cm of oil in a frying pan to about 160 C.

In a big bowl or bag mix the flour with the garlic, chili, pepper and salt. Remove the chicken from the marinade, scraping off the excess, and dump it into the flour mixture, coating well.  Fry for 5 minutes on the first side followed by 4-5 minutes on the second side until golden. Drain well on kitchen paper.

Split your biscuit, place one chicken breasts on the bottom piece followed by a cheese slice, half the browned onions and then the top.

Eat.

Exercise.  Exercise lots.  Then exercise a bit more.

Some Japanese Fried Chicken This Time - Karaage (or is it Kara-Age?)

I recently posted about Korean Fried Chicken and in the comments Mr Noodles suggested I needed to make some Japanese Karaage for the blog.  Not wanting to miss out on any excuse to fry some chicken here it is, I think it will be the first in a few fried chickens, adding to the Chicken 65, Southern Fried and Korean Fried Chicken that are already on here to make a complete(ish) guide to the Fried Chickens of this world.  Feel free to suggest some more.

I've already stated that it is the coating that makes fried chicken and the karaage method calls on a starch for this purpose.  Cornflour (or cornstarch as it's known in a lot of places) gives a coating that is harder and more durable than wheat flour or batter - knobbly and lumpy and keeping its crunch for a long time.

In karaage, before coating the chicken takes a reasonably short marinade in sake, soy, ginger juice and sesame oil.  The bath is short so the salt in the soy doesn't toughen the meat but it's long enough to impart its flavour on the smallish morsels.  For health purposes you can use breast if you want (but it's not very forgiving and turns dry rapidly) or you can omit the skin if you do choose thighs.  This is deep-fried food though, so forget trying to be healthy and leave the skin on, it will crisp up delightfully, giving another layer of texture between the crunch of cornflour and the juicy thigh meat underneath.

Karaage (Kara-Age) Recipe

A good snack for 3-4 people

Ingredients

7-8 Chicken Thighs with skin, or without if you must

3 TB Japanese/light soy

3 TB sake

8cm ginger

Few splashes of sesame oil

Cornflour to coat

Method

If the thighs still have their bones in take them out, they're handy for making a chicken stock.  Cut each thigh into medium chunks, maybe 4-6 per thigh depending on its size.

Roughly chop the ginger and then blend in a mini-blender with the soy, sake and sesame oil.  Strain the marinade through muslin to remove all the ginger fibres then marinate the chicken in it for 45 minutes.

Remove the chicken into a sieve, shaking to remove excess marinade, then dump into a bowl with a couple of handfuls of cornflour, coating well.

Heat oil to 180C and fry the chicken, in batches so the oil stays hot, until it floats - around 3 minutes.

With the oil still at 180C add the chicken back and fry till golden, this time around 2.5 minutes.  For this second fry I'm happy to put the chicken in all together as it is still hot from the first fry so doesn't bring the temp of the oil down like cold chicken does.

We ate this dry, but it would happily take mayonnaise, chili sauce or Japanese katsu sauce (or a squeeze of lemon or some ponzu) as a dip.

Korean Fried Chicken

I adore fried chicken, whether it's nuggets of chicken 65, a leg or two chopped up on a mee goreng in Malaysia or even a KFC (sorry chickens). I think the crisp coating is the perfect way to pep up what can be an underwhelming meat. With fried chicken the light flavour of the bird works perfectly, adding the texture that all meat eaters love whilst allowing whatever is on the outside to shine, and let's admit it - the coating is the high point.

With this in mind when I heard of the double-frying method of Korean Fried Chicken - the first rendering fat from the skin, the second crisping up - that left the skin delicate and thin and with crunch that didn't go, I had to find a recipe and give it a try.  Add to this a fiery sauce, packed with flavour from the fermentation of the chilli, and it stayed on the to-do list for far less time than most dishes.  I read a few American websites, where it seems to be a popular dish, and played with them until I got this, whether it's traditional I don't know but it is damn tasty.

There's one slightly awkward to get ingredient in this and that is the aforementioned Korean fermented chili sauce, or gochujang, and unfortunately it's the main ingredient in the sauce.  It was easy enough to find in London though (in the Korean section upstairs in Gerrard Street's New Loon Moon), or you can buy it online and according to this you can even make it.  It really is worth trying to get some as the flavour is quite distinctive, although if you're more fussed about trying the crunch than the sauce I guess you could try using sriracha instead but the taste won't be the same. Alternatively just cook the wings using this method and dip them in whatever sauce you fancy.

Korean Fried Chicken

1kg - 1.25kg of chicken wings

Plain flour to dust

Batter

1/2 cup plain flour

1 TB cornflour

1 cup water

1/2 ts salt

Sauce

1.5 to 2 TB gochujang

1 TB light soy sauce

1 ts sesame oil

2 ts rice vinegar

1 ts sugar

1 clove of garlic

Method

For the sauce grind the garlic to a paste with the back of a knife, a pinch of salt helps here.  Mix this with all the other sauce ingredients and you're done.

Next off you need to prepare the wings. I may make myself look like a bit of an idiot here but I always wondered where fried chicken shops got those tiny little drumsticks from, I thought the chickens they came from must have been tiddly to walk around on such stumpy legs.  It was only whilst preparing these that I realised they were part of the wing and suddenly the talk of Korean fried chicken aficionados ordering upper- or lower-wing made perfect sense.  If like me you've never prepared a chicken wing this photo may help, and it clears up the stumpy leg confusion too.

Once the wings are split you can chuck the tips, or save them for stock, then take the upper and lower wings and dust with flour, shaking well in a sieve to leave only the finest dusting.

Mix the batter ingredients into a thin batter then coat the wings in it, again shaking to remove excess - it's all about a delicate coating here.  Once this is done fry in 150C oil for 8 minutes.

Remove into a sieve and - you guessed it - shake vigorously to remove any lose bits, Korean chicken doesn't have the spare batter that southern fried chicken does.

Turn the heat up and let the oil reach 180C then fry the wings for another 3-4 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.

Remove the wings and drain well on kitchen paper then place into big bowl with the sauce, tossing until the wings are thinly coated all over.

Eat.

Chicken 65

If you're anything like me the first thing you think when reading chicken 65 is where on earth does that numerical name come from.  It seems no one knows for definite.  Some say it was originally number 65 on a menu, others say it contains 65 spices, yet more say a chicken was cut into 65 pieces.  We're still not at the end though.  Maybe the dish first cost 65 rupees or maybe, and this seemed the most common version when we asked people, it was named that by the Chennai hotel that invented the dish, in 1965 obviously.

Name aside what is it?  It's little nuggets of chicken, on or off the bone (as a snack I have to go with off), marinaded in a fiery paste of ginger, chili powder, vinegar and mustard before being deep fried till crisp and tender.  Served with some fried curry leaves, sliced shallots and lime wedges it's a fine start to a meal or snack with a cold beer. 

On my recent Keralan holiday we went for a trek around the tea plantations of Munnar and I got talking to the guide about the dish, this started off with me asking the origin of the name but soon he was telling us about a famous chicken 65 based joke from a movie.  As he told it a man walked into a restaurant and ordered some chicken 65 at a cost of 35 rupees.  He sat and waited for the chicken and when it came out and they placed it before him he complained that he had ordered chicken 65 yet there was only 6 pieces.  The waiter tried and failed to placate the man, saying it was only a name, but he wouldn't let up.  Then a hero (?) turned up and said 'Sir, see this 10 rupee note, it is only one item but within it are 10 rupees.  It is the same with your chicken 65, this piece here is one piece but contains 12 pieces, this here contains 11...' and so on until he reached a total of 65, so saving the day.  All the way through telling us this joke our guide was in hysterics so we politely chuckled along. 

Whilst Chicken 65 based jokes may not work well for the British ear the dish certainly works well for the British palate.

Chicken 65 Recipe

Serves 2-4 as a snack, definitely 2 in this house

450gr skinless chicken thigh fillets, breast would work too but be careful not to overcook

Marinade

1.5cm ginger

2 cloves of garlic

2 ts chili powder

2 TB plain yoghurt

1 ts vinegar

1/2 ts mustard powder

3/4 ts salt

1 TB cornflour

1 TB plain flour

To Serve

1 shallot, peeled and finely sliced

Small handful of curry leaves

1/2 a lime, cut into wedges

Method

This couldn't be much simpler.  Cut the chicken into 2.5cm cubes, blitz the marinade ingredients till smooth (add the flours at the end) and then mix together.  Leave for 1-4 hours.

Heat the oil to 180 C (or hot) and add the curry leaves, fry for 20 seconds till crisp then sieve out and drain on kitchen paper.

Cook the chicken for 3-4 mins, or until dark and cooked through.  It's good to chuck any extra marinade in too as it makes nice little crispy bits.

Drain the chicken onto kitchen paper then place on a plate and scatter with the fried curry leaves, shallots and lime.