Once again I was running out of ideas for my next 'food experimentalist's adventure' and had to beg my Facebook page to hand me free ideas; the excellent Kirsty Long suggested I cook with "Smash (or any other brand of instant mash)".
Now I haven't eaten this stuff in about 20 years so I knew it was about time I revisited this unique ingredient and off to my local convenience store I trotted...
After returning from my trip I got thinking hard about what to do with smash: simply making them into mashed potato was not an option.
Usually in these situations I have a look in my professional chef's kitchen fridge and it is often here where my food adventure takes shape, suffice to say this occasion was no different:
A chicken leg!
So here's my plan: I'm going to make a southern fried chicken leg coated with a Smash, chilli powder and cinnamon mix. In addition I'm going to, ahem, attempt to make some chips from the Smash mix but understand this might go very badly tits up...
Anyhooves, I start by coating my chicken breast in the Smash southern fried mix:
The egg is just there to build up the coating...
I will fry this in a frying pan just to crisp up the skin and will then transfer to my professional chef's kitchen oven for about 15 mins at 150C to finish cooking.
As that's happening, I mix some water with the rest of the Smash:
I don't want to add too much water otherwise my Smash Chips will fall to pieces, so I use just enough water to bind the mix (which turns out to feel weirdly spongy. I also have a quick taste....hmmm, not to my palette: a little salty and odd)
Anyway, I shape my Smash Chip mix into, erm....
....massive maggot shaped mumified cocoon things. Total result!
Next, I transfer these to a hot wok with some groundnut oil
As you can see, I've used the 'Starbright' filter on Instagram and not, say, learned to use the flash function on my phone properly...
After cooking these for around 5 minutes or until they are golden brown, I serve up with the chicken and a wee dab of horseradish for balance:
So, how's it taste?
Well well well, it turns out that Smash Chips are pretty goddam amazing! Light, crunchy, fluffy; all kinds of win... the chicken is also gloriously awesome: flavourful, crunchy, nom nom nom.
Overall, the combination of super crunchy chips with the southern fried chicken and sauce is absolutely ridic! This is a contender for best recipe on the blog. Wooohoooooo!
In summary, Smash turns out to be a pretty epic ingredient and one which you can use to make a very cheap bunch of chips and also works as an amazing breadcrumb-esque topping for fried food! Who knew!
So, If you are a massive fan of Smash, or even if you dig this take on Smash, head over to my facebook page and tell other food dorks!
I also have a wee blog.