Turn yoghurt-pot scrapings into a fried chicken marinade

Using an almost-empty yoghurt pot to marinate meat and vegetables is a simple, tidy way to prepare dinner. It saves on washing-up and turns a few yoghurt scrapings that might otherwise be lost down the drain into a flavour-enhancing, tenderising hack. Yoghurt-pot chicken (Southern fried-style) makes the most of that idea.

The method keeps things straightforward at home: minimal washing-up, no deep-frying and no wasted batter, because any excess yoghurt-pot marinade and flour can be combined with sliced onions and fried into fritters that sit somewhere between pakoras and onion rings.

For the marinade, whisk an egg with sea salt, a grated garlic clove, habanero hot sauce to taste and hot paprika in the yoghurt pot, scraping the yoghurt from the sides. Add chicken pieces, close the lid and shake, then chill for at least four hours, ideally 24 or up to three days, shaking occasionally.

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