This Post covers the following topics:
- What is Chin-Chin?
- How Much You Can Make Selling Chin-Chin
- Ingredients for making of Chin-Chin
- Procedures for making of Chin-Chin
What is Chin-Chin?
A sweet, crunchy food made from dough. Chin-Chin is one of the favorite food in Nigeria used as snacks or as a gift for the children. Chin-Chin is a food you can’t do without in every children parties. It usually go along with biscuits and fried groundnuts. A handful of Chin-Chin mixed with a handful of fried groundnuts can be served to a visitor with cold drink as a welcome kola.
Chin-Chin has indeed gone beyond mere snacks food to become a popular delicacy among adults and children. Some offices have Chin-Chin served on a flat plate and made available for any visitor around and those working in the office. To make it more interesting, some use to mix this delicious food with other food such as fried coconut chips, plantain chips, and peanuts, etc.
Most Chin-Chin are sold in public stores and markets, it varies in terms of quality and shape. Everything depends on the choice of the producer. Meanwhile, the crunchy Chin-Chin is the type you will usually come across based on the fact that it is the most preferred among the lovers of Chin-Chin.
The quality of Chin-Chin can be based on taste, crunchiness, softness, and physical appearance. These criteria seem to be what the customers look out for in every Chin-Chin sold in the market. However, individuals making Chin-Chin at home can decide their own quality based on preference.
When it comes to shape, Chin-Chin can be made in any shape depending on what the buyers like. Very small cubes of Chin-Chin that can be store in a bottle or wrapped with transparent nylon seems to have higher patronage than those made in big sizes. Some prefer the small sized Chin-Chin because it provide the crunchiness in every cube making the whole Chin-Chin taste noticeable in the mouth when chewing it. Besides, it appears to be the favorite choice for the children since it is easier for them to chew and handle as well.
Big sized Chin-Chin is good for occasions. During birthday party, marriage party, and any other ceremony someone can use Chin-Chin as part of the food to be served especially as a welcome food before the main food will be served. This has unnoticeably become a norm in most parts of Nigeria. Though it may add extra cost for the occasion, this practice actually goes a long way to make everyone feel welcomed and if the main food was not able to reach everyone, at least the guest can boost of eating one thing during the occasion.
With these benefits from Chin-Chin, it is obvious you can’t take it for granted. At this stage, I will be explaining how you can, make this delicious African snack at home even when you intend to sell it afterwards.
How To Make Chin-Chin At Home
Making of Chin-Chin is not as difficult as you may think. It takes just a careful adherence to instructions stated in this article and your ability to get all the ingredients needed.
Here are ingredients you need to make a quality Chin-Chin you can sell in the market:
All-purpose Flour (250g)
Baking Powder (1/4 teaspoon)
Margarine/Butter (50g)
Evaporated milk (30ml)
Granulated sugar (50g)
Nutmeg
Salt
One raw egg
Vanilla flavor (1/4 teaspoon)
Frying oil
PROCEDURES:
This procedure will be easier if you have a mixer. However, you still have the option of using hand to do all the mixing jobs.
Assuming you are using hand, mix the 250g of all-purpose flour, one-quarter teaspoon of baking powder, and the nutmeg. Manually mix these ingredients together in a large bowl. If you hand an electric mixer you can use it.
Once the ingredients in step one has been mixed thoroughly, add the 50g of Margarine or butter. Mix it with the rest already-mixed in the bowl until everything mix thoroughly. Then pour the one raw egg into the mixture in the bowl and continue mixing until the egg mix thoroughly with the mixture.
To prepare your milk and its associated ingredients, use a separate bowl to dissolve the 30ml of evaporated milk in a little water add the 50g of granulated sugar and add small salt. Once everything in the bowl have mixed thoroughly, pour the content to the first bowl containing the first mixture.
Add more water to the first bowl and start mixing until it forms a dough. To get full control of the dough you need to place it on a flat surface such a mat or round pan.
The dough need to smoothen and become very elastic, to achieve this feature, knead the dough by pressing it against itself continuously. This can take up to twenty-five minutes to achieve. Meanwhile, remember not to add to much water to the large bowl when trying to make the dough so that your dough wouldn’t be too soft. You can start with a cup of water and add little if the need arise. However, insufficient water in the dough can make you have a hard dough instead of a soft one. That will not be good for the quality of Chin-Chin you intend to produce.
Once you have achieved a smooth and very elastic dough, you can now use soft wood or any rolling material to flatten the dough on a flat surface material such as wooden board, plastic pan, or metallic pan. Use your kitchen knife to carefully cut the dough into tiny pieces according to the shape you desire. To get small cube sizes, cut the dough in uniform vertical lines and uniform horizontal lines that are very close to each other. Consider the lines in a cheese board as an example.
The next thing is to start frying the dough using your frying pan. To do that, position your frying pan on your stove with moderate heat on it. Allow the frying oil in the frying pan to get very hot before dropping your first sets of dough pieces into it.
Depending on the size you cut the dough, it can take less than five minutes or more for each dough pieces to become Chin-Chin once their color change from the milk color of dough to light or dark brown in the frying pan it has become Chin-Chin. Use hollow frying spoon to scup the Chin-Chin out of the frying pan and pour it in a metallic bowl with hollow base to allow any trapped oil to leave the Chin-Chin.
Repeat this process until you have successfully fried all the dough you cut into small cubes. The end product is the delicious Chin-Chin you have been waiting for. Now you can taste the Chin-Chin and serve some to those around you to taste.
The quantity specified on this post can serve up to five people. However, if you are very hungry, you may consume almost half of the whole quantity.
Do not forget to share your experience with us after making this delicious meal. Use the comment section to get back to us.