Tasty chicken nuggets
Posted on 19 July 2012 - 03:49pm
It must be the combination of the crisp batter that coats the boneless tender, juicy fillet, and the ease of eating those bite-size pieces.
And if a dip comes along with it, it adds a little zing to your tastebuds and brings about a spring in your step, or should I say in your hands, as you grab-dip-pop, instead of just grabbing them and popping them into your mouth.
Chicken nuggets are tasty and filling snacks, or if paired with other servings, they can be part of a simple meal.
However, they need to be deep-fried and while I enjoy deep-fried food occasionally, I simply loathe having to cook such dishes all on my own.
Deep-frying requires a lot of oil to be used and once the cooking is over, it leaves the kitchen and utensils oily.
And it feels like such a waste to throw away the remaining oil in the kuali since it is unhealthy to recycle it for another round of cooking.
This recipe is a good and healthy alternative, and many cookbooks and online recipe sites also provide variations of chicken nuggets using different ingredients, seasonings and dips.
Instead of deep-frying the chicken, we oven-bake them so relatively little oil is used.
And instead of batter, we coat the chicken pieces with sliced almonds to give them the ‘crunch’.
Almonds are known to be rich in vitamin E, B complex, minerals, dietary fibre and mono-unsaturated fatty acids that help lower bad cholesterol and enhance good cholesterol.
Almond Crusted Chicken Nuggets with Lemon Sauce
Ingredients
300g chicken breast, deboned
1 egg
1/3 cup flour
1 cup almond flakes
½ tsp salt
Pepper
3 tbsp butter, melted
Juice from half a lemon
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tbs water
Method
► Chicken nuggets
1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line an oven-proof pan with greased baking paper.
2. Cut chicken breast into approximately 8cmx4cm pieces and marinate with salt and a few dashes of pepper.
3. Beat the egg in a bowl, place flour and almond flakes in individual plates.
4. Dip a piece of the marinated chicken into the flour, shake off excess.
5. Then, dip it into the egg before rolling it in the almond flakes. Place onto pan that has been lined with greased baking paper. Repeat this for all chicken pieces.
6. Baste the chicken pieces with melted butter.
7. Place the pan at the lower section of oven and bake for 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and almond flakes are lightly brown.
8. Remove from oven and transfer the chicken pieces to a serving dish.
► Lemon sauce
1. Mix lemon juice and sugar into the remaining melted butter, lightly heat until sugar dissolves.
2. Pour cornstarch solution into lemon sauce. Stir until the sauce thickens.
3. Remove sauce from heat.
To serveArrange nuggets on a serving dish. Pour lemon sauce into a small bowl for dipping and serve alongside the nuggets. Alternatively, you can pour the sauce over the nuggets if you like.