Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Coconut Chicken Tenders with Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce


For my sister-in-law's baby shower, quite a long time ago, I made a coconut chicken tender appetizer with a sweet chili dipping sauce. I got a lot of positive feedback that day and I got rave reviews again when I prepared it for dinner! While I did fry these up, they can be baked. I'll definitely bake them next time to try and cut out some fat and calories.

My son said grace and then dug right in and didn't say a word all throughout dinner until it was time to eat his vegetables. That was a huge thumbs up for me! My husband liked the crunchy coating (why wouldn't he? it's panko). He liked that the coconut was flavorful but not overwhelming. He called these "adult chicken tenders". I guess that is a good thing. ;)

Ingredients

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut diagonally into strips
2 large eggs
1/4 cup coconut milk (optional)
1/2 cup AP or whole wheat flour
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 tsp salt
1/2+ cup vegetable oil
sweet chili sauce for dipping

Directions

1. Cut each breast into approximately 6 strips, diagonally.

2. Take two ziploc bags, one for dredging and the other for breading. In the first bag combine the flour and salt. In the second bag, together the panko bread crumbs and shredded coconut. In a bowl, combine the eggs and coconut milk. Whisk together until well combined.

3. Place 1/4+ cup of vegetable oil in a large heavy duty skillet and heat over medium/high heat until hot.

4. While the oil is heating, toss chicken into the first bag of flour & salt. Then dip the strips into the eggs/coconut milk and finally toss the chicken into the second bag of panko & coconut.

5. After breading the strips, the oil should be hot enough. Place about 1/2 the strips in the pan at once. There should only be one layer in the pan and there should be about an inch between each strip. If you over crowd the pan it will get too cold and the strips will soak up a lot of oil instead of frying. Fry the strips for 2-3 minutes on each side or until they are golden brown and crispy. Place them on a plate with paper towel to drain and move on to the next batch. After a couple of batches you may need more oil so you can add the second 1/4 cup to the pan. Allow the oil to come up to temperature before frying the next batch (2-3 minutes). Because the strips are thin, they should be cooked through by the time both sides are browned. You can tell by the texture of the chicken; it should be stiff when pressed. If you cut your strips thicker, you will need to bake off the chicken after frying to make sure the insides are cooked through.

6. When all of the strips are done frying, serve immediately with sweet chili sauce to dip in.
**These baked up really nicely at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.
Adapted from:

http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2010/01/coconut-chicken-w-sweet-chili-sauce-691.html


2 comments:

  1. Please let us know how they turn out when you bake them.

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  2. Tried this last night. Awesome. The coconut was subtle. Really nice. They baked nicely.

    ReplyDelete