Southern fried chilli chicken

Method
Prep:15min  ›  Cook:35min  ›  Ready in:50min 

1. Pre heat oven to 180 C / Gas 4. Put the oil in a saucepan and heat to 180 degrees C over medium-high heat. I do not use a thermometer, you can tell the oil is hot enough by putting the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil; if a ring of bubbles immediately forms around the spoon, it is ready.
2. Whilst the pan and oven are pre-heating, whisk eggs and chilli powder together.
3. Place fried chicken mix on a large tray. Coat the chicken with the egg mixture using a brush or your hands. Then place in the fried chicken mix and shake the tray to cover the chicken.
4. Repeat above step for all the chicken pieces and ensure chicken is evenly coated.
5. Fry chicken in hot oil for 3 minutes on each side, working in batches if needed so that you don't overcrowd the pan. Fry chicken until crispy and golden brown, then place the chicken in a large oven dish.
6. Once all the chicken is fried, place the dish in the preheated oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then increase the temperature to 230 C / Gas 8 and bake for another 10 minutes to ensure a crisp coating. Be sure to check the chicken is thoroughly cooked, it should no longer be pink in the centre.

Tips

You can add all sorts of herbs and spices to the fried chicken mix (as long as they are dried) or the egg mix. Try putting add thyme and rosemary to the chicken mix and sweet chilli sauce and lemon to the egg mix.
To make your own fried chicken mix, you can use 100g self-raising flour, 3 crumbled chicken stock cubes, 2 tablespoons garlic powder, 1 tablespoon paprika, 2 tablespoons pepper and 1 teaspoon salt.
Use some of the oil left over from frying the chicken for chunky chips. which compliment the fried chicken very well.