Chin Chin
Aperçu
Chin chin is fried dough cut into small pieces, and it is the most widely eaten snack in Nigeria. The texture sits between a cracker and a dry cake, and how hard it should be is the thing people have opinions about, with preferences running from soft and cakey to properly tooth breaking. It began as occasion food, made for birthdays and for Christmas, and the making of it was a household event that children were put to work on. That has changed: it is now sold at every street corner, in every grocery store and supermarket, and it is as ordinary as a packet of biscuits. It is also made across West Africa, and Ghanaians call it achomo. Flour, sugar, milk and butter are the base, with eggs, nutmeg and baking powder optional depending on the texture wanted. Nutmeg is the flavouring most associated with the Nigerian version, and the variations run to cinnamon, vanilla, cocoa and ground pepper. The three levers are simple enough to state: more butter and baking powder makes it soft, leaving out the egg and the baking powder makes it hard, and everything else is a matter of where between those you want to land.
Note de Patrimoine AFN
Chin chin is a fried dough snack eaten across West Africa, known as achomo in Ghana. In Nigeria it was historically prepared for celebrations, particularly birthdays and Christmas, before becoming an everyday commercially sold snack.
Ingrédients
Les mentions alimentaires sont fournies par les contributeurs à titre indicatif. Elles ne sont pas vérifiées par AFN et dépendent des produits que vous achetez. En cas d’allergie grave, vérifiez vous-même chaque ingrédient. Cuisine, allergies et votre propre jugement
Préparation
- 1
Pour the flour into a large bowl and mix in the baking powder and sugar.
- 2
Add the butter or margarine and rub it in thoroughly with your hands until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
- 3
If using eggs, beat them and set them aside.
- 4
Add the beaten eggs to the flour mixture and combine.
- 5
Pour in the milk with the vanilla essence and work it in until it comes together as a pliable dough.
- 6
Flour a clean board, place the dough on it and roll it out.
- 7
Cut the dough into whatever shape you want, gathering and re-rolling the offcuts until the dough is used up.
- 8
Heat the vegetable oil in a pan.
- 9
Fry the chin chin in batches, taking care not to crowd the pan.
- 10
When it turns golden brown, transfer it to a sieve or paper towel and leave it to cool at room temperature.
Notes de l’Africook
Notes personnelles de Beatrice Ige- For soft chin chin, add an extra tablespoon of butter and an extra teaspoon of baking powder.
- For hard chin chin, leave out both the egg and the baking powder. If the dough becomes too stiff to work, loosen it with a little milk.
- Using powdered milk, dissolve two tablespoons of powder in eight tablespoons of water and use what the recipe needs.
- Do not crowd the pan. Crowding drops the oil temperature and the chin chin absorbs oil instead of crisping.
- Let it cool completely before you judge it. Warm chin chin is always softer than it will be, and cooling is where the crunch arrives.
- Cool it fully before storing, then keep it airtight. Stored warm it steams itself soft.
Questions fréquentes
Why is my chin chin not crunchy?
Usually the egg was left out, which gives a dry, crackly texture rather than a crunchy one. The other common cause is judging it while still warm: chin chin firms considerably as it cools, so let a batch come to room temperature before deciding it has failed. Storing it before it has cooled will also soften it.
Why does my chin chin soak up oil?
The oil was not hot enough, or there was not enough of it, or the pan was crowded. Cool oil is absorbed rather than sealing the surface, and adding too many pieces at once drops the temperature sharply. Fry in batches and let the oil come back up to heat between them.
How do I make it soft rather than hard?
Add an extra tablespoon of butter and an extra teaspoon of baking powder to the dough. For the opposite, leave out both the egg and the baking powder entirely. Most cooks land somewhere between the two, and the preference is genuinely personal rather than a question of one being correct.
How long does it keep?
Several weeks in an airtight container, provided it has cooled completely first. Any residual warmth turns to steam inside the container and softens the whole batch. Its keeping quality is much of why it became a snack sold on the street rather than only made at home.
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added a bit more fresh nutmeg i bought from peckham market. in ghana we dont usually put vanilla essence in our chin chin paa, just the nutmeg and good butter, but the vanilla actually smells nice while frying. crunch came out perfect after cooling down.
Kojo, fresh nutmeg makes all the difference sha! In Nigeria we usually use both nutmeg and vanilla, and that smell when it hits the hot oil is no be small thing. Glad the crunch turned out right for you o.
couldnt get margarine from my local sainsburys so just used lurpak butter. rubbed it into the flour till it was fine like crumbs just as written. my kids love this for evening tea. the crunch is so satisfying, will definitely double the dough next time.
Lurpak is definitely the way to go! I used butter in mine too and the crunch was brilliant. Mind you, I had to traipse all the way down to an Afro-Caribbean shop in Canton just to track down the nutmeg. Definitely second doubling the batch, mine vanished before it had even properly cooled down.
chale the taste is good but baking powder makes it puff up too much oo. my grandmother in takoradi never puts baking powder, just flour butter sugar and nutmeg so it stays extra crunchy. this one came out a bit soft like cake chin chin.
Kofi, you are so right sha! Once you add baking powder, it just turns to cake chin chin automatically. When I first moved to London, I used self-raising flour by mistake once and nearly cried. Plain flour, cold butter, nutmeg, and fried hot-hot is the only way if you want that proper crunch o.
Abeg make sure the oil is not too hot o, otherwise the inside will remain soft while the outside burns fast. i used evaporated milk instead of water and the richness was just right. e sweet sha! my children finished the whole jar in two days.
Your Chin chin recipe does not have any amounts/ measurements assigned to it. Will be difficult to make it with it.