Monday, April 2, 2007

Real Chicken? In a Nugget?

Posted by MANDI at 8:08 PM
I hate chicken nuggets.

Yes, I understand that this may seem like a somewhat extreme statement but it's true. I hate chicken nuggets. Mostly I hate them because they don't taste like chicken. That could be because the amount of chicken in them is negligible, just watch any early evening commercial television current affairs show. They said so, so it must be true. Also, it's kind of scary that the nuggets with the most chicken in them are supposedly the one's sold by a multi-national chain starting with a Mc.

Unfortunately my kids love chicken nuggets. They don't get them very often but when they do they fall upon them like kids growing up in a drought (oh hang on, they are!) or as if the nuggets were possessed by the spirit of the Wiggles! So I decided to bite the bullet and give in to this need for nuggets. Not by buying them from that 'restaurant chain' or from the supermarket freezer section but by making my own. The kids loved them, Hubby raved over them and I thought they were a vast improvement on anything you can buy. I had avoided this recipe because I thought it would be fiddly and time consuming. I was so very wrong. These were easy. Super easy. Easier than easy. In fact, I reckon I made these in the time it would have taken to find the keys, drive down to the local nugget place and buy them! Now that's easy.


Chicken and Vegetable Nuggets
From Woman's Day Magazine (but I don't know when)



2 chicken breast fillets, coarsley chopped
1 small carrot, grated
2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce (this was perfect for little kids, add more if you wish)
3 spring (green) onions, coarsely chopped
1 cup stale breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste
half cup olive oil
extra sweet chilli sauce to serve

1. Place chicken, carrot, sauce, spring onions and half the breadcrumbs in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper. Process until finely chopped and well combined.
2. Shape level tablespoons of mixture into oval patties. Coat in remaining breadcrumbs.
3. Heat oil in a large pan over a medium heat., Cook nuggets in batches, until golden brown all over and cooked through. Drain on absorbent paper.
4. Serve nuggets with sweet chilli sauce. Garnish with fresh herbs if desired. (We had salad with the nuggets and the kids dunked them in good old tomato sauce)

3 comments:

Claire on April 3, 2007 at 12:48 AM said...

I've never actually seen a "Chicken nugget" recipe where you make it like the frozen kind. Do you ever do chicken nuggets by just cutting up tenders/breasts and coating them with crackers, stuffing, or something like that?

Ellie on April 3, 2007 at 10:38 PM said...

I absolutely detest chicken nuggets, but my brother and sister love them as much as it sounds like your kids do! We live about a 20 minute walk from a Mickey D's and every now and then they'll take a walk and come back with 2 giant boxes of them, which they scarf down! Will give this a try, hopefully they'll prefer these and we'll be able to wean them off the macdonalds crap!

Red Dirt Mummy on April 4, 2007 at 12:22 PM said...

That's how I do chicken tenderloins, Claire. The kids like it okay but they don't LOVE it - #1 doesn't like meat much and, while I make him eat it anyway, I try to find ways to make it a bit more appealing for him.

LOL Ellie. Good Luck!

 

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