Chicken and chickpea chips
Chicken
Chicken and chickpea chips
Chickpea chips are golden brown with a crispy shell and a creamy, soft centre. They could stand alone with any kind of dip as a canapé, but they're also great here with spicy-marinated, oven-roasted chicken. Serve with salad, mayonnaise, sweet chilli sauce, ketchup or anything else you fancy. You'll need to leave plenty of time to marinate the chicken, or do this stage the night before in preparation.
Ingredients
for the chicken
- 2cm piece fresh ginger
- 2 garlic cloves
- zest and juice of 1 lime
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- tabasco or other chilli sauce, to taste
- 2-4 chicken quarters
for the chips
- 1 mug chickpea flour
- 2 mugs water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- oil for frying, e.g. vegetable or sunflower
- salt and pepper
Method
For the chicken
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Step 1
peel and finely chop the garlic and ginger. Crush into a paste with the back of a knife and mix with the lime zest and juice, plus the olive oil and chilli sauce. Season and smear over the chicken. Leave overnight or for at least 3 hours.
For the chips
-
Step 1
coat a baking tray with the 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sieve the chickpea flour into a bowl.
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Step 2
Bring the 2 mugs of water to a simmer and add a pinch of salt.
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Step 3
Add the chickpea flour, season and whisk vigorously until smooth. Continue gently cooking, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes.
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Step 4
Tip the mixture out onto the tray, quickly scraping out the bits that stick, and smooth the top with a wet spatula. Allow to cool. Once cooled and set, cut into chips.
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Step 5
Next, cook the chicken. Preheat oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Place the chicken quarters on a trivet on a roasting tray, spoon over the remains of the marinade and bake in for 45 minutes until cooked. Baste every 10 minutes.
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Step 6
Meanwhile, fry the chickpea chips in a fryer (watch it carefully). Make sure the oil is hot (180°C) and do them in small batches. If the oil isn't hot enough it won't be soggy chips as much as an oily sludge you'll be apologising for, and they'll all wish they'd gone to Nando's.
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Step 7
Quickly crisp up the chicken under the grill and serve with chips and some salad, mayo, sweet chilli sauce, ketchup etc.
