Maggan’s Kitchen Adventures

Hi, my name is Maggan. Welcome to Maggan’s kitchen!

They’re not just finger-lickin’-good, they’re homemade too. How great can that be? Great for lunchbox treats. Can make wonderful party finger food.

Early this week at Homebuy, I thought I had seen frozen packs of breaded chicken. On my next grocery trip, when I was planning to get one, I realized that the frozen packs were schnitzels. Slightly disappointed, I then decided to make my own breaded chicken. Crispy, golden and tasty.

I had an art professor who told our class that a good art work was not just a product of inspiration but a product of a comprehensive research. So I did some research since I didn’t even know where to begin and I wanted a good meal of breaded chicken. Yes, I’m ambitious!

Jamie once did crispy rabbit legs and thighs. I followed my pal’s recipe using boneless chicken breasts. Here it is.

Ingredients:

• 2 whole boneless chicken breasts
• 2 chicken bouillons or vegetable bouillons
• 1 litre water
• flour
• 3 eggs, beaten
• bread crumbs
• frying oil

1. In a casserole, boil 1 litre of water with 2 bouillon cubes.
2. Put in the whole chicken breasts and boil for 10 minutes.
3. Drain and set aside to cool.
4. When cooled, slice the chicken breast into 1-1.5 centimetre-thick medium-length pieces.
5. Bring out 3 trays or dishes that can accommodate all your chicken pieces.
6. Cover the surface of Tray or Dish 1 with flour.
7. Beat 3 eggs in a bowl. Put in Tray or Dish 2.
8. Cover the surface of Tray or Dish 3 with bread crumbs. (Don’t be stingy with the flour, eggs and bread crumbs. Add more if necessary to coat all sides of the filet slices well.)
9. Coat the chicken breast slices in flour. Put them all in Tray or Dish 1. Ensure they are well covered by the flour.
10. Transfer the flour-coated chicken breast slices into Tray or Dish 2. Roll them in the beaten eggs. Coat them all over. This will ensure that the bread crumbs will stick onto the filets.
11. Transfer the flour and egg-coated chicken breast slices into Tray or Dish 3. Roll them in the bread crumbs. Add some more bread crumbs in the tray if necessary. Coat them well.
12. In a deep-frying pan or thick-bottomed casserole (which I use since I don’t have a deep-frying pan), pour some frying oil enough so that the chicken slices will float in them.
13. Heat the oil.
14. Fry the coated filets until they are slightly brown. Remember the chicken breast meat itself is already cooked. You just want the outside to be crispy. In medium heat, it will take only a couple of minutes.
15. Fish out the crispy nuggets of the oil and lay them on a plate lined with paper towels or tea towels to drain the oil.

I should’ve made more. Although they turned out to be chicken nuggets instead of the breaded chicken that I had planned, I wasn’t disappointed at all. And they were great with the HP brown sauce.

This recipe is not restricted to chicken breast filets. After all, Jamie used rabbit thighs and legs pre-boiled with rosemary and garlic for flavours. Moreover, Jamie’s final coating for the rabbits were a mix of bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.

This is one recipe that will let your imagination lose. Say you want spciy chicken nuggets, add some chopped dried chilis into the bread crumbs. If you want fresh herb flavours, add in some chopped fresh thyme or oregano.

I promise that this recipe will work just as well with thighs and drumsticks. Then you got finger-lickin’-good fried chicken. Better than Colonel Sander’s, if you know what I mean.

When H and I visit B in Spain someday, I’ll make crispy rabbit thighs and legs. Guess what! I think my appetite is getting back on track. And I’m slowly warming up to vegetables (cooked) again.