Like any normal, upstanding human woman, I love fried chicken. I love my dad’s Indian fried chicken recipe, I love the popcorn chicken I once had at a Taiwanese restaurant that I still think about, and I love a good Southern buttermilk fried chicken. I will even admit here, on the record, that I am partial to a 10 pack of Wendy’s spicy check nuggets. But deep-frying things has always intimidated me.

The few times I have tried it at home, it can turn into a soggy, oily mess. I did a little more reading on what I might be doing wrong and realized that my oil was usually not hot enough…and that oil takes a lot longer to get to temperature than I thought. When I dreamt up this buttermilk fried chicken recipe, with a marinade spiked with sambal olek hot sauce and the dredging seasoned with curry powder and black pepper, I knew I needed to get my hands on a candy aka deep-frying thermometer. Maybe you’re more of a pro than I am but knowing exactly when my oil hit 350F made a huge difference in the quality.

There are lots of ways to get a crispy crust; I did an East-meets-West dredge with all-purpose flour and cornstarch (aka cornflour). It was both cragly and airy perfection, all at once.

Serves 2

Ingredients

For the marinade:

• 4-6 pieces of chicken, like thighs or drumsticks, skin-on

• 2 cup buttermilk

• 2 tbsp sambal olek, sriracha or another Southeast Asian chile sauce

• 1 tbsp fish sauce

For the flour coating:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup cornstarch (aka cornflour)

• 1 tbsp curry powder

• 2 tsp black pepper

• 2 tsp chile powder like cayenne

• generous amount of salt

To fry:

• 48 fl oz bottle vegetable oil, or enough to fully submerge the chicken

• 3-5 quart cast iron pot/dutch oven/heavy-bottomed pot

• Thermometer for deep frying (not required but highly recommended)

• Salt and curry powder to finish

Method

Stir together the buttermilk, hot sauce, and fish sauce marinade. Submerge the chicken pieces and let marinate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

When you’re ready to fry, heat the oil to 350 F in a heavy-bottomed pan and bring the chicken out of the fridge. While the oil heats, mix together the flour, cornstarch, curry powder, black pepper, chile powder, and salt. When the oil has heated to temperature, take a piece of chicken, shake off some of the excess buttermilk marinade, and coat with flour thoroughly. Clumps of flour will form as you coat the chicken; that is the good stuff that turns into the crunchy bits.

Fry each piece for 4-5 mins per side. Do not crowd the pot. Remove each piece from the oil and let drain on paper towels or a cooling rack. Quickly season with some more salt and dust with curry powder while it’s hot.

Serve!