Everybody loves chicken! We are not an exception and for that reason we present you the wonderful recipe which Lai Kuan, the creator of the blog ” Food 4 Tots” http://food-4tots.com/ sent to us for Popcorn Chicken!
Ingredients:
230g chicken breast, skinless (2 small chicken breast halves)
100g cornflakes (I used Nestle Whole Wheat Cornflakes)
60g plain flour
2 eggs
Seasonings:
For the marinade
1½ tsp oyster sauce
1½ tsp light soy sauce
½ tsp sesame oil
¼ tsp white pepper
pinch of sugar
For the breading
4 tsp garlic powder (refer to photo)
15g (about 4 tbsp) Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
How to make?
- Preheat oven to 200°C.
- Trim excess fat, rinse and pat dry chicken breast with kitchen towels. Put inside a plastic bag, pound with a rolling pin/ empty glass bottle to flatten it. Cut into 1 inch small cubes. Mix together the seasonings for the marinade in a large bowl. Add chicken cubes to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. You can do the coating in a reusable bag and transfer the bag straight to the fridge.
- Put the cornflakes into a food processor and process until they become small crumbs. You can also put the cornflakes into a plastic bag and crush with your fingers or rolling pin to make the crumbs. Add in Parmesan cheese, paprika and black pepper and mix well. Set aside.
- Set up your assemble line. Get ready with 3 bowls (even plates or small pan sheets are possible) which are large enough for coating the chicken cubes.
- The FIRST one is for flour.
- The SECOND one (preferably use bowl) is for egg white. Crack an egg, extract the egg white and whisk lightly.
- The THIRD one is for cornflakes mixture.
- Use a pair of tongs or clean hands, dip chicken cubes in the flour, egg and then cornflakes mixture.
- Prepare a baking tray lined aluminum foil. Grease the tray with oil to prevent the chicken cubes from sticking to it.
- Arrange the coated chicken cubes on the tray. Drizzle/ spray some oil over them.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Turn the chicken cubes over halfway through. Do not overcook the chicken as they will be dry and hard.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Transfer to serving plates.
- Serve warm and best to go with dips such as tomato ketchup, sweet chilli sauce or tartar sauce.
Notes: To minimize messiness, complete the entire batch for one particular step before moving to the next one. Instead of cubes, you may also cut them into strips. You may not use all the coating, but having more will make your work easier. If you don’t have oven, you can pan-fry them. To add extra crunchiness, you can do double breading for the chicken cubes. After step (8), dip the chicken cubes again to the egg mixture and then the cornflakes mixture. (Remember to complete the entire batch for step (8) first before proceeding to the second round breading. This is to ensure you have enough leftover egg mixture and cornflakes for that.) If your kids who are not ready for paprika and garlic powder, you can omit them. It works equally well too.