Popeyes in South Africa

So for those who know me, you know I'm a big fan of fried chicken, heck! part of the reason the name of this blog has to do with the crispy golden food. While my allegiances do tend to favour the one particular brand I'm always one for trying something new.  Which brings me to the topic of today's post, yesterday saw the first franchise store of the iconic American restaurant brand  "Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen" open in South Africa. The store which is based in the Sandton City Mall food court has begun serving it's authentic Louisiana-inspired chicken to much fanfare as the queues were testament to this. Guests experienced the mouth-watering menu, with the favourite being the bone-in fried chicken which is available in two flavours, spicy or mild. There is also boneless options for those who prefer their chicken that way and a wide variety of signature sides, one of the favourites being cajun fries. 

Jaye Sinclair, the Chief Executive Officer for South African based, Siyaghopa Trading Group, the people responsible for bringing Popeyes to SA had this to say. "We're very excited to join the Popeyes family and bring the iconic brand to South Africa. We think our South African guests will love the signature blend of spices and flavours we'll bring the table". 

South Africa being a nation that loves their chicken, will enjoy the distinctive flavours of Popeyes fried chicken and tasty cajun fries. Here are a few facts about Popeyes to get you ready for your first experience. 

Where did Popeyes get its name?

• Everyone thinks Popeyes got its name form the spinach-loving cartoon character, but the name actually came from a famous fictional 1970's detective, Detective Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle, the fictional lead character of the movie, 'The French Connection', is the real insparation behind the brand name. 

Popeyes around the world. 

• Popeyes currently has restaurants in more than 25 countries.
• The Popeyes restaurant in Sandton City, Johannesburg is the only Popeyes on the continent of Africa and the first to open in South Africa.

What makes Popeyes so unique?

• Popeyes founder, Al Copeland, created one-of-a-kind chicken recipe that is marinated in Louisiana-inspired seasonings, then hand battered, breaded and fried. Creating a juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside chicken guests have been craving for more than 45 years. 
• Popeyes has proprietary seasonings that are used to marinate the chicken for 12 hours, creating the richly seasoned flavours in both the mild and spicy versions. 
• At least 60% of the employees at the Popeyes in Sandton City are first-time work-seekers from the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator who have been trained to meet Popeyes international requirements.

Spice...and all things nice

• At Popeyes, flavour is everything! The Popeyes chicken recipe is based on a 300 year old culinary tradition, which incorporates a fusion of cooking styles, a rich blend of proprietary seasoning and spices sourced from around the globe, including Africa. 
• Popeyes offers both well-seasoned mild chicken as well as a more spicy chicken option that South Africans are bound to love. 

What's a biscuit?

• Have you heard of the famous American Biscuit but not had the pleasure of tasting? Ger your taste buds ready - this legendary American side dish is a specialty of Popeyes!
• The delicious and freshly baked Popeyes Buttermilk Biscuit join a wide selection of authentic Signature Sides available on the local menu. 

For more information on Popeyes and to gander at their menu, visit www.popeyes.co.za and follow Popeyes South Africa on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

*Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen South Africa will serve Halaal chicken and is certified by the South African National Halaal Authority. (SANHA)

Journey of Hope

KFC is undoubtedly one of South Africa's favourite fast food franchise, with outlets nationwide all making that delicious crispy fried chicken just the way the Colonel used to. Now although they're mostly noted for the food, locally KFC have been running a campaign for a while, a campaign known as "add hope". Add hope is a national feeding program which ensures children have access to nutrition in order to live, grow and thrive. How can one be a part of this? Simple, after placing your order at any KFC, you can donate R2 towards this cause by adding it to your bill. Your R2 can go a long way to feeding the less fortunate.

Riaanon his journey

Recently KFC partnered up with renowned South African adventurer Riaan Manser to help feed South Africa's children. In September he embarked on his journey, an epic adventure to cycle the country and his route will read the message of "hope". In total Riaan would travel 4100km in 2 months, stopping off in many towns along the way to highlight both, the plight of hunger and the positive impact that Add Hope is making to the countries children. This Friday, the 19th of October see's him making a stop in Durban at the North Beach KFC, situated in the Mangrove Beach Center on Somtsea Road at 9am. Come join in and support Riaan in his inspiring journey across the country, to better the lives of the children. You together with KFC, Riaan and the Add Hope campaign can help a nation prosper.

 

You can follow Riaan on his journey via twitter through @KFCSA or @riaanmaser  or follow the hash tag #addhope

Recipe: The fried Chicken

Haven't done a recipe blog in a while and in the interim I have been messing up the kitchen, i.e cooking. So as the name of the blog is synonymous with the fried chicken, today's recipe is exactly for that! I tried many methods and recipes but after watching that Texan heavy weight Paula on the food network I figured out why mine kept getting messed up.

Fried Chicken burger with onion rings, crumbed mushrooms and chips

NB: This recipe I just used skinless chicken fillets as I was making them for burgers but you can used chicken pieces, with or without skin. 

Ingredients:

400g Chicken Fillets
1 tbsp oil
Crushed garlic
Minced green chilli
Worcestershire sauce
2/3 cups bread flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp mustard powder
2 tsp chill powder
2 eggs

There is quite a bit of prep needed for this so make sure you have adequite time.

Prep

After washing and draining your chicken, add it to a bowl with the oil, chilli, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and 1 tsp  each of the salt, black pepper, mustard powder and chilli powder. Mix all the ingredients well into the chicken. Allow it to marinate for 15-20 minutes in the fridge.

Chicken left for marination

While the chicken is marinating, crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk them till they are a smooth texture. In another bowl add your flour and the rest of the salt, black pepper, mustard powder and chilli powder. Use a spoon to mix the flour. Have a tray handy to place the coated pieces as well, lightly sprinkle flour onto the tray to avoid sticking.

egg wash

Once the chicken is done marinating, we can start the coating process. First take the chicken, dip it into the egg. Make sure it get soaked all round since we want the flour to coat it evenly. There after allow it to drain the excess egg then roll it in the flour mixture.

After coating all your chicken pieces with the flour, comes the part I learnt from Paula. "We gonna dip it and coat it a second time yall!" Yes you read right, take the already coated chicken and repeat the process of dipping it in the egg and flour. This gives the chicken a nice thick coating and prevents it from braking while frying.

Once you've coated all your chicken, its time to fry these suckers. Make sure you have a small belly pot with a lid. Not alot of oil is needed as we will be frying one piece at a time but make sure there is enough to cover the chicken. I say use a pot with a lid as the chicken does tend to splatter the oil when frying so this would help minimize the mess also it helps steam the chicken and not make it chewy.

Fry until golden brown and then place on a sheet of grease proof paper as this helps drain out the excess oil. As I said, I made burgers so it was served in a bun with mayo, lettuce, cheese and a slice of tomato. If you chose to use pieces, you can have them with sauce, gravy or what ever you desire. There maybe left over egg and flour from the coating, I normally slice up some onion rings and mushrooms to use it up as shown in the first picture.

Enjoy!