Easy Food
Chicken Schnitzel
Admittedly this is a bit of work but schnitzel is so nice and crispy and the kids love it so much that it's worth it.
Once made it is super versitile too - it can be eaten cold in a roll ( bun or sandwich ), it can be had with chips or rice or mash. You can slice it an add it to a salad or just munch on it on its own as a midnight snack. Pretty much the only thing you can't do is put it into a bowl of milk and have it for breakfast !!
You can use chicken or turkey breasts, pork chops ( without bones ), or thin steak ( the quick fry kind works well. See - super versitile. Schnitzel is just any meat fried in breadcrumbs.
So let's get on with it. For this demo I am using chicken breasts.
Ingredients in order of appearance.
Breadcrumbs
1 packet of chicken breasts
coarse salt
2 cups of plain flour
4 beaten eggs
oil for frying
If you're making your own breadcrumbs, throw your bread into the oven at around 100 - 130 C and it should be starting to dry our and brown in 20 minutes.
Alternatively you can buy breadcrumbs but what's the fun in that?
So if you're using chicken breasts you need to butterfly them. Sorry posh cooking terminology alert - we just need to make sure the chicken is thin enough to fry without burning the breadcrumbs.
So carefully slice the breasts lengthways from one side to almost the other side and open up so you get one piece which is half the thickness but twice the size.
You should end up with piece which are between 1 and 2 cm thick. Don't worry too much about being exact we're going to bash them flat in the next step anyway.
Now we're going to use a zip lock bag and a meat hammer to tenderise and flatten the meat. So beat that meat.
The zip lock bag is great for keeping things clean. Use the flat side of the hammer unless you're using beef.
You should aim to get the pieces around a 1cm thick.
Lay out your production line.
A cup of plain flour first
Then a couple of beaten eggs
Then loads of breadcrumbs
Then an empty plate to put the coated meat.
Before you put the meat through the production line, you need to salt it on both sides, just a good sprinkle of course salt on both sides will do.
Now, coat the meat in the flour. Then cover in the eggs and that should mean the breadcrumbs stick and form a nice thick coating.
You'll be surprise at how much breadcrumbs you go through so have lots at hand.
Keep topping up the plates with more flour, eggs and breadcrumbs as you go.
Well done, that's all the hard work done.
Now heat some oil in a frying pan deep enough to shallow fry the schnitzel so just over a centimetre. It'll reduce as you fry so you'll need to keep adding more.
Keep the heat around medium and make sure the oil is hot before you add the first schnitzel.
Fry for around 4-5 minutes each side or until brown - that'll be more than enough to cook it as we flattened the meat earlier.
This is the colour you're looking for. Oh the heavenly crispiness !!
Today I decided to serve with rice and sautéed cabbage.
