Game day snack: chicken schnitzel with honey mustard onion relish.

hello dear food lovers,

I just spent a week trying to sort out my life and priorities and here I am cooking away, my favorite stress buster regime again. 

Most of you must be wondering why game day snacks? This was inevitable as we all know that the football world cup is starting soon and since most of our TV sets will be entertaining football enthusiasts in our families, the least we can do is make some snacks (though mostly midnight snacks)  since the TV is not gonna be free for us anyway!!

 After much thought, I decided to try this recipe since most people eat chicken and it is easily available too.

A brief background first: A schnitzel is a boneless cut of meat (beef, veal, pork, turkey or chicken) that has been thinned with a heavy object (I used a rolling pin), coated with flour, eggs and bread crumbs and shallow fried. There are so many variations all over Europe itself because it is a sponge like recipe that can be adapted to satisfy so many flavour palates.

 I love the flavour of freshly ground pepper with chicken as it reminds me of my childhood. I come from a small town where 15 years ago, a pizza was hard to come by. A small joint used to serve chicken pizza (only other option being veg pizza...just veg, no specifications... LOL) and this pizza had chicken with freshly ground pepper and some random veggies like mushroom and the world's thickest crust but the 10  year old me loved it!! 

What you will require for the relish. 

• some red onion.
• 1 tbsp honey.
• 1 tbsp vinegar.
• 1 tbsp mustard. 
• 3 tbsp water.
• salt to taste.

In a pan, heat 1 tbsp oil on medium heat and throw in the sliced onion. Once they are translucent, add in salt, vinegar and honey and turn the heat to low.

It should look like this. I do not want to add flour or any starch to my relish as we are already using flour in the chicken and I want to keep the relish as light as possible.

Now mix the mustard and water and add it to the pan and let it reduce to a thick consistency on low heat. keep it aside.

 

What you will require

• chicken breast 
• some eggs
• some flour
• some bread crumbs
• pepper and salt 
• canola/veg oil to fry. 

 

Buy chicken breast and slice them thin 2 cm thickness. Using a blunt heavy object start pounding the chicken gently but firmly till they become 1 cm thickness. (the size will become bigger on pounding, so cut accordingly in order to fit in your frying pan)
 Then its 4 easy steps:

1. coat the chicken in flour (I seasoned my chicken breast with freshly ground pepper and salt before coating int he flour) *remember to dust off excess flour
2. egg wash (here again remember to lightly season your eggs with some salt)
3. coat in bread crumbs. (just enough till the egg is not sticky anymore)
4. fry!! (oil should be hot enough to avoid soggy oily result but not too hot as to burn your schnitzel. Heat the oil on medium heat for 20 seconds and test it with some bread crumbs. Slight bubbles should mean the oil is ready.

Fry on medium heat till golden brown and serve hot after wiping off excess oil with a tissue. Chicken should be moist and soft and the coating should have a slight almost sneaky crunch :)

Just some ideas!!

You can use leftover vegetables and make a salad out of warm chicken schnitzel and some nuts and veggies.

Some  vinaigrette dressing will be perfect for summer (emulsion of vinegar, olive oil and some of your favorite herbs).

The salad can be enjoyed with some bread in a sandwich for lunch or enjoyed with a light soup for dinner :)

keep reading and remember to cook from your heart !!