Relish chicken gizzards – once the man-only dish!
In many parts of Uganda only the men were allowed to eat chicken, and woe betide any woman who dared served chicken without the gizzard, a delicacy reserved for the head of the home, always a man! All that is in the past now and women can eat as much chicken as they like. Although a chicken will always have only one gizzard, thanks to commercial poultry farming, gizzards can now be bought by the kilo.
In this recipe the gizzards are fried in a batter, making them crispy on the outside and nice and tender on the inside. As you enjoy every crunchy morsel, spare a thought for your female ancestors who would have be disgraced for doing so!
Method
1. Separate the gizzards into two pieces by cutting out the hard connecting tissue of each gizzard. Trim the excess fat and gristle, wash well and drain.
2. Boil the gizzards in water in which one chicken stock cube has been dissolved, until tender. The water should just cover the gizzards.
3. Meanwhile, crush the grated ginger and garlic to a pulp. Beat the eggs together well. Mix the wheat and gram flour with the turmeric, salt, ginger and garlic paste, eggs, lemon juice and water, to make a smooth batter, without any lumps.
4. Dip each piece of gizzard into the batter until well covered, remove with a tablespoon and put on to a large plate.
5. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan until hot and fry the gizzards on medium-high heat until crisp and golden-brown. Do this in batches, without overcrowding the pan.
6. Drain and serve hot as a snack or side dish.
TIP: Chickpea or gram flower can be bought from most large Supermarkets and Indian grocery shops. Or you could make your own gram flour by grinding dry chickpeas in the mill attachment of your blender, to a fine powder. Sieve it in a fine sieve before storing.
Ingredients
1kg chicken gizzards, 2tsp fresh garlic,
finely grated. 200g chickpea (gram)
flour, 2 tbsp lemon juice,
2 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated,
1 tsp salt, 2 eggs, Oil for deep frying
200g wheat flour, 2½ cups water
1 chicken stock cube
1 level tsp turmeric.
