On the Table

For the love of Drumsticks

We eat chicken at least once or twice a week and my son, Reuben will only really eat drumsticks.

I think he's around 4 years old here. Yep, that's KFC.

First of all, I think he likes the whole ‘chicken handle’ thing as he doesn’t like messing his hands, but I also think he prefers it because it really is much more tender than chicken breast. Apart from the normal chicken curry and BBQ chicken, I was really running out of ideas of making it ‘fresh’. I usually look for new recipes on Pinterest and I found this one and thought I’d give it a try.

The fact that it is skinless and had a bit of chilli in it, appealed to me. After removing the skins carefully, I used my kitchen scissors, I cut a couple of slits into the fleshy bit (2kg drumsticks). I mixed the marinade ingredients into a glass bowl.

I used:

½ cup of oil 

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

2 Tablespoons raw sugar

1 Tablespoon Cumin 

1 Tablespoon of Paprika

½ Teaspoon chilli powder 

3 cloves of fresh garlic minced 

Salt to taste

I used a mixture of half olive oil and half vegetable oil because I just happened to run out of olive oil. It didn’t seem to make any difference though. Cumin has been a favourite, recently using it in a Moroccan lamb stew and I’m really enjoying the flavour. To be honest I should have put more chilli powder. I was concerned it would be too spicy for Reuben but even he would’ve not mind a little more. If you’re going to try this, I would suggest to go with instinct lol. I mixed the chicken into the marinade using my hands making sure I really got into it. I let it sit in the fridge while I cleaned up the kitchen.

It was really a lovely day to try this recipe. All my planning for school was done and I was enjoying the random mix of songs on my phone. Singing along and watching my boys cleaning the garden through the kitchen window made me happy.  Moments like this remind me how blessed I am. Whether we’re cooking "Sunday" lunch on Friday (Our weekends run Friday to Saturday) or catching a quick take away on the go, it’s all about creating moments in time. The time spent around a meal gives you a moment to reconnect to the rest of the family and spend quality time together.

I didn’t have time to bake this in the oven, so I popped it into the microwave for 10 minutes and then pan-fried it till browned. Because of the sugar in the marinade, it browned pretty quick so I had to put it back into the microwave a few more minutes just to make sure it was cooked through.

 I served ours with some steamed broccoli and a light carrot salad. Reu enjoyed his with some white steamed rice. The overall verdict was good. The boys enjoyed it and I would definitely make it again. Something to add to the drumstick repertoire.

What's your family's favourite chicken recipe? Feel free to share; I'd love to give it a try. Heaven knows, Reuben will forever like chicken drumsticks.

💖Always

Leazille

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Let me know your thoughts if you try the recipe.