How to Make Chin Chin That Tastes Like Home

Chin chin is four ingredients and almost no technique, which is exactly why it goes wrong so often.

The complaint is nearly always the same. It came out soft, or it went soft by the next day. Both come down to the same two decisions.

What you need

• 4 cups plain flour
• 1/2 cup sugar, more if you like it sweet
• 1/2 cup Blue Band or butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup Peak milk, or evaporated milk
• 1 tsp baking powder
• A pinch of nutmeg and salt
• Oil for deep frying

The two things that decide the texture

1. How stiff your dough is

Stiff dough gives hard, crunchy chin chin. Soft dough gives soft, cakey chin chin.

Neither is wrong, but you have to pick. Most people who complain about soft chin chin added too much liquid without realising that was the decision they were making.

For proper crunch, the dough should feel almost too firm to roll.

2. How hot your oil is

Medium heat, not high. This is counterintuitive.

Hot oil browns the outside in seconds while the inside stays raw and damp, and that trapped moisture is what makes it go soft an hour later. Medium oil cooks it through and dries it out.

The method

1. Rub the margarine into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs.
2. Add sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.
3. Beat the eggs with the milk and add gradually. Stop before it looks right. You want stiff.
4. Knead five minutes, rest fifteen.
5. Roll thin, about 3mm, cut into small squares.
6. Fry in batches on medium heat until deep golden. Do not crowd the pan.
7. Cool completely before storing. Warm chin chin in a jar steams itself soft.

Why yours goes soft the next day

Dough too soft, oil too hot, or you sealed it while still warm. That last one catches everybody.

What to eat it with

Cold yoghurt, which is the classic pairing. Otherwise malt, soft drinks, or straight from the jar at midnight.

If you would rather not fry anything, we stock ready-made chin chin in sachets and a 900g jar, which is the size for a household that has stopped pretending.