Chicken like the Colonel's?

Lotus' Fried Chicken

Part of my childhood memories include mom bringing us to the KFC outlet in Kallang Bahru and us eating pieces of the Colonel's Original Recipe chicken on real plates with real cutlery. They used to be much much tastier than the chicken that KFC sells today.

I know that the spices for the chicken must include pretty exotic ones as I've met a former buyer for the company when we were living in the USA and he used to visit Indonesia alot to source for his spices. He has of course been sworn to secrecy and would not reveal the recipe, but one does not need a degree from Le Cordon Bleu to figure a few things out. In any case, seeing that we are not old enough to have tasted the original chicken and as the ones sold today suck, you can't do worse when you try to make your own in the comfort of your own kitchen.

Lotus' Colonel Chicken :

Chicken Breasts or Pieces

Salt

Pepper

Ground Paprika

Ground Turmeric

Ground Ginger

Lime Juice

Flour

Sugar

Ground Cinnamon

Ground Cumin

Ground Cloves

Ground Nutmeg

Ground Coriander Seeds

Chilli Powder

Marinate the chicken breasts (cut into thumb-size pieces) or chicken pieces (thighs, drumsticks, wings) with the salt, pepper, ground ginger, paprika, turmeric and lime juice for at least an hour.

Prepare the flour for coating by mixing the rest of the ingredients together.

Heat the oil to about 180-190ºC. Coat the chicken in the flour and deep fry. Colonel Sanders apparently used to pressure fry his chicken, but studies have shown that it shouldn't make a difference to the taste whether we normal deep fry or pressure fry.

Serve hot with a dip. I also did a sandwich version with hot sauce. Quite finger lickin' good, if I may say so. And OK, lest people complain that I promote unhealthy eating habits, do try to eat it with some green stuff like cucumber or lettuce leaves.