Chin chinis a common West African snack. It’s essentially made from flour, butter, eggs and milk, and delicious to boot! If you’ve never tasted chinchin, you’re missing out on a whole lot. This snack is so great that some African countries have found ways to personalize the recipe a little. For instance, Ghanaians have a little variation that involves onions and pepper. But today, we’re going to be teaching you how to make the Nigerian chinchin.
Whether it’s for your child’s birthday party, or for a large adult gathering; or for the kids at home, everyone loves the snack. So, learning how to make Nigerian chinchinis a great thing right now; when there’s a lot of free time on our hands owing to the coronavirus lockdown. And if your family is eating as much as most people on social media claim, you’ll need a go-to snack handy.
So let’s begin!
How To Make Nigerian Chin Chin: Preparation And Caution
Credit: Nigeria Food TV
Even as this snack is commonly enjoyed in Nigeria, not all chinchins are made equal. Some are overly sweet, or tasteless, while some are just an oil-soaked mess. Sometimes you will find that your chinchinis soggy or has soaked up a lot of oil. Here’s why your chinchinmight soak up the frying oil:
- The oil wasn’t hot enough.
- Or the oil wasn’t enough for the amount of chinchindough being fried.
- The oil was overcrowded. Overcrowding the oil lowers the oil temperature and brings you back to no 1 point above.
Here’s how to prevent your chinchinfrom soaking up all the oil when frying
- Before you fry the chinchin, always test the heated oil by putting a piece of chinchinin the oil. If the oil bubbles and the piece of chinchincomes up immediately then the oil is ready for frying.
- Always fry your chinchinwith enough oil. Frying chinchinrequires deep frying which requires a lot of oil.
- Make sure you have enough oil to fry your dough. Too much dough overcrowds the oil and doesn’t allow adequate frying by lowering the temperature of the oil and making the dough soak up oil.
How to stop your oil from spilling over
source: My Diaspora Kitchen
Most times, this happens when you are frying a second batch of the chinchindough. This happens only when your dough is made with butter. When you make chinchinwith margarine , you can fry the whole batch with the same oil without having it bubble up and spill. Here’s what to do:
- If you are making a large quantity, use a large pot to fill in oil to accommodate large chinchindough for each batch; then change the oil after each batch.
- If you are making a small quantity, use a large pot to accommodate the amount of oil needed to fry the chin-chinin one batch.
And now, here’s how to make Nigerian chinchinin easy steps
Nigerian Chin Chin
Ready in 35 minutes
Serves 8 people
166 kcal
Ingredients
- Milk
- Flour
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Butter
- Salt
- Cayenne pepper (optional)
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon or nutmeg
- Oil for frying
Preparation
- Mix the Flour, baking powder, Sugar, and Nutmeg together in a Bowl
- Add the Egg, Melted Butter and Milk to the dry mixture and mix together until a dough is formed and knead the dough for a couple of minutes (about 2 to 4 minutes)
- Roll the dough it out into a thin sheet of about a 1/4 to 1/6 inch thickness and use a pizza cutter or a knife to cut the dough into tiny pieces
- Preheat some oil – enough to deep fry the chinchinand fry until golden brown.
- Allow to cool completely before serving. Enjoy!
How did your Nigerian chinchinturn out? Share with us.
My Diaspora Kitchen
Also read: How To Cook Delicious Jollof Rice With Tin Tomatoes
