Last week I was feeling a little pin-spired and decided to actually MAKE a good, homemade dinner rather than phone it in to the local Coney Island (baby Greek with grilled chicken is my religion). I enlisted my boyfriend for help since he is a much better cook than I, plus he actually enjoys it and doesn’t refer to the kitchen as “Satan’s Land”.
The Dish: Coconut Chicken Tenders with honey-mango dipping sauce. (serves 2-4)
The original recipe that pin-spired me:
http://thecozyapron.com/a-cozy-appetizer-coconut-crunch-chicken-strips-and-letting-love-be-the-inspiring-guide/ (thanks Ingrid!)
Ingredients (some of these are modified from the original recipe based on our results):
The Chicken
- Vegetable Oil (for frying the chicken)
- 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast- I like to use organic chicken. You’ll slice them length-wise into 4 strips, then cut those strips length-wise again to give you a total of 8 strips per breast. It’s a lot of tenders so come hungry or call some friends (or call no-one).
- Pinch of Curry Powder
- Salt
- Pepper
- Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
- 1/2 cup flour
- 3 eggs
- 2 1/2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
The Sauce
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1 cup mango chunks
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon honey
- small pinch of curry powder
- 4-5 drops of your favorite hot sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
Seems like a lot of ingredients, I know- but the prep is actually very simple and doesn’t take much time at all:
- First things first: I hit my head on the fridge right away collecting the ingredients.
- MOVING ON- Fill a medium sized pot just about half-way with the veggie oil. We brought it up to a pretty high temp on the burner.
- Put your sliced up chicken strips into a bowl and add the pinches of curry powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. We used a bit more of the cayenne for some extra flavor. Toss the strips around to cover them in the seasoning.
- Next, you’re going to need a few bowls. In the first bowl, mix your flour, a little bit more salt, pepper and cayenne. Put the eggs in a second bowl and whisk until smooth. In a third bowl, pour in your shredded coconut.
- Use these bowls as an “coating assembly line” for the chicken. Dip one strip at a time in the flour mixture, then the egg, then the coconut and set aside on a new plate. Repeat for all strips. Make sure you press the coated chicken strip pretty good in the coconut so it sticks when you put them in the veggie oil.
- Fry time. We put about 4-5 strips in the hot oil at a time. Don’t worry if some of the coconut rises to the top. If you coated them well enough, you’ll be fine. We moved them around with tongs every few minutes until they were golden brown. The original recipe says they’ll be done in 1.5- 2 minutes, but it took us more like 5-6 per batch.
- Once they’re a nice golden brown, take them out of the pot and place them on a paper towel lined plate. This helped soak up some of the oil. Once they’re all done, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
While the strips are in the fryer, you can quickly make the DELICIOUS dipping sauce.
- Add all the ingredients for the sauce (listed at the top of this post) into a blender and serve immediately. We placed our finished sauce in the fridge for a bit. I added more Mango than the recipe called for, it really gives the sauce the right kick.
VOILA! You have a delicious meal that makes your taste buds feel like they’re on a Jamaican vacation. Just add some margs you’ll have a temporary cure for seasonal affective disorder.
(I’m talking to you, Midwest friends)
This is an Alaïa 