- Hey, dudes, I'm Hilah,
and today on "Hilah Cooking,"
we're making jalapeno fried chicken nuggets.
I don't know why.
I do know why 'cause it's good, but also, hi again.
So I did a video for the first time in two years last week,
and it got such a wonderful response.
You can ask Chris, I was brought to tears
by y'alls heartfelt comments,
and I really have missed you all too,
and it was so cool to see so many familiar names.
I was gonna say faces, but there's no pictures is there?
Well, yeah, there's pictures,
but it's not anybody's real face.
Let's be honest, unless you're all cartoons.
But anyway, thanks for the warm welcome back,
and I'm excited to do a little series of holiday videos
for you even though this one is not a holiday video,
because Halloween just happened,
and I just need one tiny break
before we hop right into the next holiday.
Am I right?
Oh, I have some champagne here.
(upbeat music)
Just like old times.
(funky music)
Still feel like I'm getting my groove back
in the kitchen and on video.
I've been still cooking in the last two years
since I have stopped making YouTube videos, of course.
So this actually is a recipe
that I came up with probably a year ago.
So even though I wasn't making videos,
I was still posting recipes and pictures on my website.
So I'm gonna start with cutting up some garlic,
and I always use fresh garlic.
If you wanna use the pre-mixed, pre-chopped one
or garlic powder even, I think that would be fine.
Something about the pre-chopped garlic in a jar
has a really weird smell to me,
and I don't know if it's, they probably put some kind
of acid in there to preserve it or something.
I don't know, but I'm,
Jesus Christ, embarrassing myself is what I'm doing.
No, but there's just got a weird smell to me, I don't know.
If it doesn't bother you, then go ahead and use that.
(speaks foreign language)
Okay, I'm gonna shop this up super tiny
and if you all hear some beeping happening, it's not me,
but there's construction happening behind my house,
and it's supposed to be happening
for the next three years or something.
I don't know, and we're not gonna be here
that long I don't think.
But anyway, we love California,
but just not like the particular house,
even though it is got a great kitchen for shooting in.
Can't deny that.
I mean, look at that tile.
People still email me asking about that tile,
and I don't know.
I think it came from IKEA,
but I didn't remodel this kitchen.
My landlady did it before we moved in.
Anyway, I digress, I like to digress.
That's my new motto for this channel is more digressions.
I feel like part of the reason I got really burned out
a couple years ago was because I listened
to a lot of YouTube advice,
which was like, "Get to the point,
"make your videos five minutes or less,
"don't spend a lot of time jibber jabbering."
But I like to jibber jabber,
and that's what makes it fun for me
is jibber jabbering with you all.
So there's gonna be some jibber jabbering.
So I've got some chicken thighs here, boneless, skinless.
This is not like a fried chicken on the bone.
Although I do have a video for that, so I'll link to that.
If you wanna do this seasoning on the bone,
bone-in fried,
there's just not a great way to say that
without thinking about erections.
But anyway, maybe that's just me.
You could totally use the same spice mix and everything
and the same procedure,
and then just follow the cooking instructions
on the other fried chicken video.
But I cut these up pretty tiny.
I'm gonna add my garlic,
and then I'm gonna add some salt because we need salt.
So we've been in L.A., from Texas, 4 1/2 years now.
Yeah, it'll be five years in July.
Somebody asked me recently how has my cooking changed
or how has my palate change even since we moved out here?
And it was a interesting question.
No one had asked me that before, thanks Curby.
It was actually my best friend from high school
who had asked me that,
and also, his mom gave me the FryDaddy
that I'm gonna use later,
so I owe the Con family a large gratitude of thanks.
Anyway, but he asked, how has it changed?
And you know what?
I eat a lot less red meat since being out here,
and I eat a lot more vegetables.
There's not really any vegetables in this.
Jalapenos, do jalapenos count?
Okay, I just added some onion powder
and some chili powder, ancho chili powder,
and I'm gonna add a little bit of cayenne pepper too,
or maybe a lot.
Hey, Chef John, that one goes out to you.
Because the only jalapenos I could find
at my fancy food co-op grocery store
that I've been trying to go to
and support my local food co-op only had the mild jalapenos,
which I'm like, "Ugh, please Lord."
So wash your hands thoroughly
before and after you do this,
just like going to the bathroom.
Okay, yeah, so I'm gonna mix this up in here.
And do this as sorta my little dry rub
except for the garlic, which of course is wet.
We just wanna get that all done up like that,
and a lot of fried chicken recipes
have you marinate it in buttermilk and stuff.
I find that doing a little dry rub like this ends up
with a crispier outside and juicier inside,
which is really ideal.
Okay, who wants chicken fingers.
Wash your damn hands.
Okay, so then you can set this in your fridge
for like 30 minutes, four hours, 10 hours.
I think the longest I've done it was probably like 12 hours.
Let me get my little lid here.
Now it only has a tiny bit of salmonella on it.
Okay, and I'll see you back in two shakes of a lamb's tail,
two shakes of a chicken's butt.
Tada!
It's like a sound bath for your insides.
My voice is amazing.
Okay, so this has been sitting here for a little bit.
I'm gonna add some monster cum. (laughs)
It's a throwback to the last week's video.
Okay, it's sour cream.
You can also use plain yogurt.
So this'll be our moisturizing ingredient.
It's so moisturizing,
and then I'm gonna add a little bit of this jalapeno brine.
I'll just dump it all in.
These are tame.
Look at this, let me just show you, Jeff's Garden.
I mean, no offense to anybody named Jeff,
but I don't really, I don't know,
I mean, I'm sure these are delicious.
I haven't actually tried them yet.
Yeah, they're good.
They're salty and vinegary.
I don't know why Jeff's Garden cracks me up so much
on the inside of my head,
but thumbs up if you also think that Jeff's Garden
is a hilarious name for a brand of pickled jalapenos.
Okay, I'm gonna mix all this wet stuff up.
Oh, but yeah, so like I was saying,
we went back to Texas in September
to visit family and so Chris
could do some work with "Yoga With Adriene,"
and also so I could do a book signing
for my new Texas cookbook,
and that's when it was so apparent to me
how much beef people eat in Texas.
I was shocked, I had forgotten.
We've been doing a lot more vegetarian stuff.
So also, if you're interested in more vegetarian recipes,
definitely let me know.
I know I saw a few comments from people
that were like, "Oh, since you've been."
♪ Since you've been gone ♪
That, since you've been gone, may have been gone,
they've gone vegetarian.
So I kind of have too.
I mean, I feel like we probably do 80% vegetarian now.
Anyway, okay, get to the point Hilah.
So this is some flour.
This is actually a white wholewheat flour.
You could use regular white flour.
I just was almost out of it.
So and then I'm gonna use (groans)
I wasn't even faking it.
This was actually screwed on really tight.
Hey oh, that's what she said.
Okay, I did say that actually.
And we're gonna add some masalina,
which is the same flour, masa flour,
that you use to make tortillas, tamales.
If you can't find it, I feel like it's pretty easy
to find now, although not in small quantities.
Usually, it's a giant five-pound bag or something.
I think you could use a fine, fine cornmeal, not cornstarch.
I don't know, I don't know what to tell you.
You know what, just go follow the instructions
for the other fried chicken video and use that.
I think it was just flour or seasoned flour.
Okay, I'ma add a little bit of salt there.
Oh, hang on, hang on.
I need a thing.
I got the thing that I needed.
It's called a whisk.
I'm gonna combine that together.
I don't know why I'm like, "It's called a whisk.
"Jalapeno fried chicken."
It's like I'm on a cattle drive.
Okay, then we're gonna do one
of those things they call dredging.
Oh, this smells really good.
Jeff's Garden, whatever it is you're doing
with your jalapeno brine, you're doing it right, son.
Just toss a few of these in this seasoned flour-masa mix
until they're gently coated.
I always think about this whenever I'm handling raw chicken
and raw eggs is I took a microbiology class
when I was in college.
It was just Intro to Microbiology.
It was 300 years ago.
But one thing I always think of
is that our teacher told us that salmonella,
like salmonella bacteria, actually has a very low
or a very high infectious dose.
You have to eat a lot of salmonella bacteria to get sick.
So that's what I always remind myself of.
You probably won't get sick, just chill,
don't follow my advice,
just cook your chicken thoroughly please.
Okay, anyway, I'm getting this all coated,
and then I'm putting it on a little rack here,
and this is kind of a key part
to making sure that your breading doesn't fall off
when you throw it in your fryer.
And that's just kinda letting it air dry on a rack like this
for 20 or 30 minutes.
So it's gonna be a little bit of time.
I'm sorry, you all are gonna have to wait with me
while this happens.
I'm kidding, we don't have to, we'll cut, we'll cut.
Okay, so all my little nuggies are coated.
I wanna let them sit here and sorta air dry
for about 20 minutes before we fry them,
but in the meantime, you can start heating up your oil.
You'll want about two inches of oil in a pot.
Make it a deep pot though,
so the oil doesn't explode over like a volcano
that will catch you on fire and burn your house down.
And then you can also go smoke a bowl or something
if you live somewhere like I do where that's legal.
Peace.
Okay, and we're back.
It's like I'm a news lady.
Okay, so this is heated up.
It's actually at 375 but it'll cool off in a second.
So we're just gonna drop some of these in,
and they cook really quickly because they're teeny weeny,
and I'm gonna try something I haven't
actually tried before with these.
When I've done this before, I blended the jalapenos up
with the juice and then mixed all that in together.
But I'm gonna try something fancy for y'all today.
I'm gonna sorta make little chicken sandwiches
with a piece of jalapeno in there,
and then maybe this would be a super cute little appetizer,
a little 'tizer.
Look, let's try it, let's see.
Let's see what happens, I don't know.
This is my chicken finger rag down here.
The chicken finger rag.
It sounds like an old-timey song.
So I didn't check the clock, but yeah.
So by the time they're nice and dark brown,
they should be done all the way through.
Of course, you can cut one open to check it.
But like I said, I ain't afraid of no salmonella.
I'm gonna end up in the hospital.
Okay, just kidding.
I also like to put a little paper underneath my FryDaddy
to catch any grease splatters,
and I think it's very appropriate
that there's a weight-loss ad
underneath my fried chicken pot.
Inappropriate, appropriately inappropriate.
Oh yeah, this is looking purdy.
Look at them, hang on, let me get you one.
Look at that.
Okay, I'm gonna give it a couple more minutes.
I'm gonna give my little sandwich a little bit longer,
and I'm gonna make a few more little sandwiches.
Oh look, that little jalapeno
is kinda getting a little crispy too.
That's fun, you can kinda tell,
when you're frying stuff when you initially put it in,
it'll sizzle up a lot as the water comes out,
and then it'll calm down a little bit.
This is having a tantrum over here.
It is not calming down.
Oh yeah, okay, that's the color I'm looking for.
Yeah, I'm gonna call those done.
I'm gonna stick a fork in them but not literally
and call them done,
and then I'm gonna let them drain on a little rack here too.
This reminds me of fried oysters or something.
Oh, my Lord.
Those look so good.
Okay, let's do some more of my little sandwiches, boop!
I think these will take longer, 'cause they're folded over.
So I'm gonna do all of them at once.
Okay, so the last two, whoa.
See, don't be afraid to let them get real brown.
That's good flavor.
So I'd be lying if I said that Chris
and I didn't eat a bunch of these already,
while we were frying them,
and I have to say that I am indeed a genius,
because this whole chicken jalapeno fried
chicken nugget sandwich thing is a really good idea.
I'm not gonna eat this one, because it's too pretty,
and I wanna take a picture of it later.
So, oh look, this one's kinda popping out.
That's okay, I'm just gonna do it like this.
They're very hot.
Oh, my God, these are delicious.
Very hot.
(Hilah groaning)
What if I just fell over and died right now
'cause it was so good?
Oh, my God, I won't do that.
I'll try not to do that.
I'll try, anyway.
Okay, thank you so much for watching.
If you want this recipe, you can go to my website,
HilahCooking.com.
Wow, I haven't said that in a long time.
But anyway, thank you so much for watching.
I'm glad to be back, even if it's only for a short time.
I still don't really know what's gonna happen, no promises,
but I can pinky promise that I have missed you,
and I am glad to see all
of your shining YouTube handles and comments again.
Okay, bye, I love you.
(upbeat music)