VEGGIE BOOZY BUFFALO BITES

My favorite hangover food is chicken, especially that of the battered variety. I can easily polish off mountains of the stuff in no time. I'm always trying to recreate my favorites so that I can enjoy them at home with the veggie. This inspired me to create these delicious beer battered "chicken" pieces covered and baked in spicy buffalo sauce.  I've had to rush this post out super quick today the response I've had online to these and I'm not surprised at all! They are brilliant hangover fodder but quite frankly just blatantly brilliant in general!

So for my bites I've used Quorn chicken pieces. They are the perfect size and deep fry perfectly. Make sure you defrost and drain them before you start as used frozen the extra moist will make your batter soggy. You could use defrosted Quorn fillets too and cut them into bigger pieces if you want proper feast sized chunks and of course other meat replacement products are available if you wish to use them instead but you'll have to judge frying temperature and time based on their cooking times.

Who doesn't love beer batter as well. Unless your tea total of course then this is a proper adult treat. I used a bottle of "The Wild Beer Co" beer. I saw them on the TV a while ago and their "Wildness IPA" variety is great for these bites. You get that beer taste hitting the back of your tongue after the initial punch of the buffalo sauce. Perfect! Hunt "The Wild Beer Co" out online and get some bottles in not just for these but for a weekend bevy. They do some fantastic varieties so treat yourself! You deserve it! If you don't want to use "The Wild Beer Co", you can use another ale in the batter so choose something you know you like but something you would be happy to drink straight from the bottle just as you would when adding a wine to a dish. If you don't want to use beer then replace it with milk to get that batter consistency right.

As for the buffalo sauce, well I cheated. I used a plain bottle of buffalo sauce which you can pick up from most supermarkets. This is good enough on it's own but I do like to give it a little boost my adding in some Worcestershire sauce to bring out the flavor and some drops of hot to add some extra spice to the sauce. I'd recommend adding the Worcestershire unless you sauce really don't like it but the hot sauce is entirely optional. Taste your sauce and adjust it as you see fit.

Here comes the recipe. I remind you that it does use very hot vegetable oil so be careful and have a damp tea towel to hand just in case and keep your eye out for pesky kids running around! Make sure you have enough to give you a depth of around 1 inch and ideally monitor the temperature of the oil with a cooking thermometer until it reaches 180 degrees Celsius. This is your ideal frying temperature.

Veggie Boozy Buffalo Bites

Plenty Of Vegetable Oil

130g Plain Flour

1 Tbsp Cornflour

Pinch Of Salt And Pepper

 Approx. 330ml Ale

250g Defrosted Quorn Chicken Pieces

200ml Buffalo Sauce

1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

A Few Drops Of Hot Sauce

1. Start by filling a deep pan with your vegetable oil one inch deep. Heat slowly up too 180 degrees Celsius using a thermometer.
2. Whilst the oil heats up mix together the plain flour, cornflour, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Slowly add in the ale a bit at a time, whisking as you go until a smooth batter has formed thick enough to coat the Quorn bits but still runny. You might not need all your ale so save the last swig for a reward when you have finished.
3. Dip the Quorn pieces into the batter so they are well coated and then dunk them into the oil with a slotted spoon. Do this
   
   in about three batches so you don't overcrowd the pan. Fry until the batter is crisp and golden then remove from the oil and drain onto some kitchen paper. Repeat until they are all done.
4. Mix together the buffalo, Worcestershire and hot sauce in a separate bowl. Taste and adjust to your liking. Tip the fried bites onto a baking tray lined with foil and then pour over the sauce in batches until the bites are lightly but fully coated in the sauce. Reserve any left over sauce for dipping later!
5. Place the tray into the oven and bake the bites for 5-10 until the bites crisp up even more and the sauce darkens and is piping hot.

Serve straight from the oven whilst they are still piping hot along with any leftover buffalo sauce to dip them in and that last swig of beer (and a fresh bottle for good luck!). These bites are great served with tonnes of chips or wedges and some cooling dip like a sour cream for those who do not like the spice. Not only is it good hangover food but it's great for dishing up at a BBQ for your veggie friends and family.

Boozy, crispy, spicy and delicious! What more can you ask for!