Fried Chicken Tacos

By BobD

"Right in Tijuana's red-light district sits Kentucky Fried Buches, where cooks fry chicken necks, skin on, to fill soft corn tortillas. I can't stop eating them," says Andrew Zimmern. "At home, I fry skin-on chicken thighs until they're supercrisp, then eat them with avocado-tomatillo salsa, my family's favorite.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• Kosher salt
• 4 large boneless chicken thighs with skin (about 5 ounces each), pounded 1/3 inch thick
• 1/2 pound tomatillos—husked and quartered
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 serrano chiles or 1 large jalapeño with seeds, chopped
• 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
• 3 tablespoons cilantro leaves
• 1 Hass avocado, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Large pinch of cayenne pepper
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• Warm corn tortillas, for serving

Details

Servings 4
Cooking time 155mins
Adapted from foodandwine.com

Preparation

Step 1

In a large bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the lime juice with 1 teaspoon of salt, stirring to dissolve the salt. Add the chicken thighs and turn to coat. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

In a food processor, combine the tomatillos, garlic, serranos, onion and cilantro and process to a coarse puree. Transfer the salsa to a bowl and stir in the avocado and the remaining 2 tablespoons of lime juice. Season with salt.

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. In a shallow bowl, combine the flour with the pepper, cayenne and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

In a large skillet, heat 1/3 inch of oil until shimmering. Dredge the chicken in the flour, shaking off any excess. Fry the chicken over moderately high heat until well-browned and crisp, about 3 1/2 minutes per side. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

Cut the chicken into thin strips and serve with the tomatillo salsa and warm corn tortillas.