The Rugby World Cup has officially started today and my husband couldn’t be happier. As far as I understand it, it will be weeks and weeks of endless rugby matches, rugby highlights, profiles of teams and players, discussions on Supersport about the favourites and their strategies, reruns of previous World Cup matches and memories, interviews with captains and coaches… – you get the picture. It’s not that I don’t like rugby (I think I’ll be crucified it I ever admit to that), it’s just that I didn’t really ever made the effort to fully understand the game. Let’s just say that when I hear “rugby game”, I think ” yay! time to make snacks”.
So for the opening game this morning, I made my extra crispy chicken strips. Sooooo easy, sooooo delicious, SUCH a crowd pleaser. Be sure to make a huge platter full of these little golden winners, because the guys will surely be asking for more.
Ingredients:
- 750 ml sunflower oil (or good quality cooking oil – make sure that you have around 5-7 cm deep oil in your frying pot)
- 4 skinless boneless medium-sized chicken breasts (the weight will vary)
- 2/3 cup of flour
- 2 teaspoons Cajun spice / seasoning
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2-3 cups white breadcrumbs
Method:
- Start by making your breadcrumbs. I use leftover white bread or sour dough bread that are a few days old (but fresh bread won’t hurt anyone). Put it in the food processor and process untill you get a fine crumb (it takes around 10-20 seconds). Set aside in a wide bowl.
- Put the flour and Cajun spice in another wide bowl, and mix well.
- Put the beaten egg in another wide bowl. (The wide bowls make dipping easier.)
- Have a clean tray ready to arrange your prepared strips on. Now arrange a preparing station of seasoned flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs.
- Cut the chicken breasts into thin strips (discs) of about 5 mm thick each. Dip each chicken strip into the flour mixture to fully cover it, then dip into the egg mixture, and finally put the strip into the breadcrumb bowl and cover the crumbs (pat the crumbs “into” the strip). Arrange the prepared strips side by side on the clean tray.
- Heat oil in a heavy based pot on medium heat. Do not overheat the oil, because the crumbs will burn before the chicken is cooked through. if you have a thermometer, heat the oil to 175 degrees Celsius.
- Deep-fry the chicken in batches, about 6 at a time, untill golden brown (I use metal tongs to take them from the tray into the oil). It takes around 2 minutes per batch. Remove strips with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen towel paper.
- Serve strips hot with honey mustard mayonnaise or barbecue sauce or any sauce of your choice.
Go Bokke!
