Expensive Chicken? Here’s An Hen-semble Of Foods That Taste Just Like Em’
These chicken alternatives might just hit the spot.
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Fried, roasted, steamed – everyone loves the savory taste of chicken. It’s probably one of the most versatile meats to use in cooking. However, the recent hike of chicken prices has been a growing cause of concern for Malaysians. With the prices of almost everything going up these days, it’s only normal for us to find easy substitutes for the things that we enjoy.
So with the prices of chicken hitting the coop, why not get creative and try out these alternatives that will (hopefully) curb your chicken cravings?
Tofu
If you’re familiar with plant-based alternatives, you’ll know that tofu is one of the most widely used meat substitutes.
Extra-firm tofu is usually the best pick to substitute chicken meat. Remove excess moisture from the tofu by placing something heavy on top of it, like a cutting board and some books, and leave it for about 30 minutes before slicing them up to use in your cooking.
One of the simpler tofu recipes is just seasoning them with anything you like and pan-frying until it’s cooked. But if you wanna try something different, check out this easy cashew tofu recipe.
Mushrooms
Another tasty alternative to chicken are mushrooms, specifically monkey head or king mushroom, because they give out similar textures to chicken when prepared right.
Although mushrooms are not very rich in protein, they’re packed with vitamins and minerals such as selenium, zinc, vitamin B1, B2, B5, B6 and B12.
Check out this honey ‘chicken’ recipe using monkey head mushrooms!
Cauliflower
Cauliflower is a pretty good substitute for chicken dishes because you can prepare them almost the same way as you would with chicken. Gobi Manchurian or Gobi 65 are basically just cauliflower substitutes for tasty chicken dishes widely served in Indian cuisines.
Despite the fact that cauliflower does not remotely look like chicken at all, they actually taste pretty good when prepared right, and you’d be able to enjoy all these delicious dishes even if you cannot find chicken for now.
Check out these recipes and make your own yummy cauliflower ‘chicken’ dishes!
Jackfruit
It might sound weird to think about replacing meat with fruit, but it’s actually pretty common in the West to use jackfruit as a meat substitute.
The hype is catching on locally, with Malaysian brands like Nanka coming up with plant-based meat alternatives using jackfruit as the primary ingredient.
Unripe jackfruits are pretty much tasteless until you add your own combination of spices to them. Nangka sayur, which is essentially the unripe fruit, can be found in fresh open markets and some Malaysians are already familiar with using this component of the fruit in their cooking.
READ MORE: TiNDLE Plant-Based Chicken – Did The Dishes Taste Good? [Review]
Plain flour and water
Turns out you can make your own fried chicken without any chicken at all.
A user on TikTok showed us how to use plain flour and water and turn that into crispy fried ‘chicken’. It sounds really weird but the results do look kinda promising.
Just combine plain flour and water, knead and rest the dough a couple of times, add your choice of seasonings and pan fry.
Well, desperate times call for desperate measures I guess.
Which ones of these chicken substitutes would you try out?
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