Chicken Tenders

This is a recipe with a little story behind it. When I was pregnant with the twins, I craved a crispy chicken sandwich, and none of the halal restaurants in our town served anything like that. So I began experimenting and playing around until I prefected this recipe. So I could eat them in a sandwich. When I was learning how to make it, I kept imagining how I am one day going to serve this to my twins when they are big enough to eat it. That time arrived faster than I expected.

1 Thawed halal chicken breast

Slice it across the grain of the muscle.

Slice it fairly thin.

Place 1/4 cup of either unbleached all-purpose flour, or garbanzo and fava bean flour, in a gallon size zip-lock bag. I like to use garbanzo and fava flour when I can find it. Add spices to taste. I use about a half teaspoon each, of ground mustard powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper.

Put the chicken in the bag also, and give it a good shake, to coat it with the flour and spices.

To make the final coating, Panko Bread crumbs, stick, I make an egg wash. 2 egg whites, and 1 Tablespoon of water whisked together.

Dip the flour-coated chicken tenders in the egg wash.

Then coat them in Kikkoman Panko Bread crumbs. These are by far the best brand I have used. I press the crumbs into the chicken to help them stick, and to flatten the chicken tenders a bit.

They are now ready to fry, or place in the fridge to fry later in the day.

Always Pompeian, first cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil all the time.

Chicken breast should be cooked quickly on very high heat, and then removed, to avoid getting tough chicken. About a minute or a minute and a half on each side.

Place the cooked chicken on paper towel to drain excess oil. My kids can not wait to dig into this plate. They stand around and say, "chik-in, chik-in, chik-in," when they see me preparing these. They are very familiar with the procedure.

This is their favorite side dish. The secret to good corn on the cob, is to use FRESH corn. Never use frozen corn. Bring the water to a boil before plunging the corn into its boiling bath. If it starts to boil too fast, just reduce the heat a bit, and tilt the lid, but make sure it keeps on boiling. Corn should be in the water about 20 minutes from start to finish, even though it stops boiling for a few minutes right after you add the corn to the water. When finished, drain away the water. Don't let the corn sit in the water long after it is finished or all the flavor will leech into the water. My boys love to chew corn off a cob.