Mortar (and pestle) is used to grind or crush ingredients into powder or paste. But do you know the mortar can be used as a cooking tool too? I use it to flatten the chicken drumsticks during cooking to get crispy pan fried chicken drumsticks. If you don't have mortar and pestle, any heavy, flat-bottomed object (e.g. a brick) would also work.
Ingredients:
3 chicken drumsticks (deboned)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper or freshly ground black pepper
Lemon sauce (optional):
15g unsalted butter
50ml lemon juice (around 1 lemon)
20g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
80ml water
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp water
Method:
1. Clean and wash the drumsticks. Pluck chicken feather if any. Dab dry. Debone.
2. Heat up the cast iron pan/skillet until smoking.
3. Meanwhile, sprinkle salt and white/black pepper on the meat side of the chicken and rub the salt and pepper in.
4. Put the chicken, skin side down, into the cast iron pan. Lay a piece of aluminum over the drumsticks, followed by the mortar. Pan fry the drumsticks undisturbed over low heat for 5 minutes. Note that the length of cooking depends on the size of drumstick and the stove heat.
5. After 5 minutes, remove the mortar and aluminium foil. Use the wok spatula to lift the drumstick to check whether it has crisped up. If not, cover with aluminium foil and mortar,and continue to pan fry for a few more minutes.
6. Once the chicken skin has crisped up, remove the mortar and aluminium foil and flip the drumstick, meat side down. Pan fry for 5 minutes.
7. Transfer the cooked drumstick to the chopping board and cut into thin slices.
Serve hot!
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