Chicken & Ube Waffles

For the Saturday of our trip to Pittsburgh, we went to eat at Lola’s Eatery for breakfast. It was a great experience and the food was amazing. But, we sadly learned that the one item we wanted to try wasn’t available on weekends — their chicken and ube waffles. Since chicken and waffles is one our favorite meals, I decided to make my version of chicken & ube waffles.

Ube Waffles:

• 220g Bread Flour

• 30g Ube Powder

• 120g Vegetable Oil

• 425g Milk

• 12g Baking Powder

• 2 Egg Separated

Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl mix the milk, egg yolks, vegetable oil. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks in another bowl. Mix in flour into the liquids until smooth.Then fold in the egg whites with the ube batter in one half at a time. This will result in a fluffy waffle.

Marinated Chicken Thighs:

• 2 Lbs of Boneless Chicken Thighs

• Buttermilk

• 300g Flour

• 150g Corn Starch

• 5g Dried Oregano

• 14g Salt split in half

• 5g Pepper

• 14g Cajun Spices split in half

In a large bowl, place in the chicken thighs. Sprinkle in 7g of salt and cajun spices. Pour in enough buttermilk to just cover the chicken. MIx them all together. Let the chicken marinate for at least two hours or overnight in the fridge. In another bowl, mix in flour, corn starch, dried oregano, pepper, 7g of salt, and 7g of cajun spices. Dip marinated chicken into the flour and cover them evenly. Let the flour sit for 15 minutes to create a skin. Fry chicken in a pot of two inch of oil that is at 350 degree. Let the chicken fry until it’s light brown. Let them sit and rest for 5 minutes. This is just a pre-fry. Let the oil come back up to temperature and place the chicken back in the oil until it reads 165 degree on a thermometer. The twice-fried method results in a very crispy chicken. Let them rest on a clean rack so the excess oil drains.

I finished the dish by topping it with pickled onions, honey butter, fresh mint, a cajun crema, and maple syrup. This was one of the best meals I’ve created in a long time! Even Katie thought so, and she a tough critic.