A Cut (of potato) Above The Rest

A year or so back I wrote a diary entry about Mangoes, Melons and Papaya and the ability of food to take you back in time! I remember that these three tropical fruits returned me to hotel breakfasts, namely the more recent experiences in India and Thailand, not so much Nepal. The hotel there prided itself on ‘Green’ credentials! There was just a bit of mango jam with toast. A country with few resources had to pride itself on ‘Green’ credentials sadly. Okay, these three fruits brought back many memories of living in Mumbai and Bangkok.

Daddy and Dadda’s dinner tonight was an embrace of fried food. Don’t worry, well drained and lots of super absorbent kitchen towel. Just chicken and chips really! A few alterations however. Definitely use boned chicken thigh meat, so much more flavoursome than breast meat, maybe a bit cheaper too. Firstly you need to marinate it. This is just my basic marinade for Indian, North African and Chinese food. Garlic, ginger, chilli (the holy trinity of spices), coriander, salt and lemon juice. Leave for a few hours. Now you want to breadcrumb the thigh filets, firstly a douse in flour, beaten egg and finally fresh breadcrumbs. Leave to dry out a little before shallow frying.

Right, now for your potatoes! This is going to take me back to my mothers kitchen as a child, many years ago. I know she wouldn’t mind me saying this, but her talents lay not in the kitchen! But she always had excess boiled potatoes in the fridge on a Monday after a Sunday meal of overcooked roast brisket of beef (cardboard), melt in the mouth carrots (eek), tinned peas (also melt in the mouth – yuk) and extremely dry, rather hard roast potatoes. She is in fact the reason I put myself through catering college in my late teens to qualify as a chef. I did my degree a bit later on!

Okay, back to those cooked potatoes in the fridge. She would slice them and simply fry them. These potatoes, she called ‘fried potatoes’. Simple enough and always a treat.

Tonight I think of her. She sadly passed away shortly after Aaliyah and Caleb were born. She also sadly never met our three youngest children, due to her living in Australia.

Fried food is a real treat. I spent most of my life avoiding it in the home place! Though we finally purchased a deep fat fryer a year or so back! Remember, high days and holidays as the general rule people! Lol.

So I am shallow frying the breaded, marinated chicken thigh and deep frying my mothers ‘Fried Potatoes’ tonight.

The children now in bed, a hectic enough day. So, a glass of wine and comfort food me thinks. I haven’t done any exercise in the last 6 of these 8 weeks of self isolation and lockdown. I am 5kg heavier as a result, I will address this situation very soon. But as for tonight, my take on ‘chicken’n’chips’ and a memory of my mum, Jean Eve Paradise. May she rest in peace!