Recipe: coconut chicken with sweet chili sauce

Photo credit: Mikayla Kapp

Pan fried to crispy perfection, this seemingly fancy but surprisingly simple main dish will impress anyone. I have made this recipe several times after my first go at it nearly a year ago, tweaking and perfecting it along the way. Each time it impresses a new group of taste testers because of the unique sweet flavor of the chicken combined with the sauce. The sweet chili dipping sauce is something that seems easy to skip over. Don’t do it. It completely ties the dish together. Splurge the extra three dollars; you will not regret it.

Skill level: Beginner to intermediate

Tastiness: 8/10

For a healthier alternative: bake the chicken at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, turning them at about 15 minutes.

Tastes great with: steamed vegetables, asian noodles or rice.

Recipe adapted from budgetbytes.com

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

• 2 large eggs

• ¼ cup coconut milk

• ½ cup all purpose flour

• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

• 1 cup shredded coconut

• ½ tsp salt

• ½ cup vegetable oil, divided

• 1 cup sweet chili sauce (can be found in grocery store asian section)

Instructions

1. Cut off any extra fat from your chicken, then cut each of the breasts diagonally into equal strips.

2. Gather three bowls for the breading process. In the first bowl combine flour and salt. In the second, whisk the coconut mild and eggs together until well combined. In the third bowl, stir together the shredded coconut and bread crumbs.

3. Pour 1/4 cup of the vegetable oil into a large skillet. Heat over medium/high heat until just below smoking.

4. While the oil is heating, dredge the chicken strips. First, coat each strip in the flour and salt mixture, then dip each into the egg and coconut milk mixture and finally coat each in bread crumbs and shredded coconut.

5. After breading the strips, the oil should be hot enough. Place 6-8 strips in the pan at once. Leave an inch between each strip; there should only be one layer of chicken strips in the pan at a time. If too many strips are in at once, they will absorb the oil instead of frying. Fry the strips until they are golden brown and crispy (about 2-4 minutes). Place them on a plate with a paper towel to drain excess oil and move on to the next batch. After a couple of batches you may need more oil, so you can add the second ¼ cup to the pan. Allow the oil to heat up 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.

6. When all of the strips are done frying, serve immediately with sweet chili sauce for dipping.

— Mikayla is a sophomore majoring in graphic design. Her favorite appliance is the blender. Email any recipe review requests to mikaylakapp@gmail.com.