Grilled Spicy Breaded Chicken

I always wanted to try breaded chicken but most of the recipes that I came across were rather bland and to spice it up, I decided to use a combination of marinades which worked really well. The chicken was juicy, crunchy when you bite it, slightly tangy and as you continued the flavour of mint which works so well with chicken.

Ingredients

6-7 cleaned, boneless chicken breast;  cut in medium size pieces
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 egg
pinch of salt & pepper

First Marinade
juice of a lemon
4     garlic cloves
2'' ginger
1 cup  mint leaves
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
dash of all spice (optional)

Second Marinade
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp chaat masala
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil


To coat
1/2  cup breadcrumbs
1/4  cup grated cheese
1 tsp dried herbs (mint & basil)

Method

Prick the chicken all over with a fork and keep aside. Process the first marinade in the mixer. Apply all over the chicken and marinate for about 1-2 hours.

Preheat the oven at 220C. Grease a non-stick baking dish. Place the chicken pieces in a single layer in the baking dish. Cover with silver foil. Bake for 20 mins. Remove from oven and allow it cool. Remove the chicken and allow the juices to drip away so that the chicken is dry. You can bake the chicken a day ahead. I baked it in the morning when I prepared lunch and refrigerated it.

Mix all the ingredients for the second marinade. Apply the second marinade to the cooled chicken and leave it aside for 20 minutes.

Beat the egg and add a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix the breadcrumbs, cheese and dried herbs. Dip the chicken in the egg and place it on a wire rack to allow the excess egg to drip away. It does not take a long time just a few minutes, so by the time you finish coating all the pieces, the first one is ready. Press the chicken into the breadcrumbs mixture. Turn over and press the other side. This ensures that the chicken is well coated with the breadcrumbs. Transfer to a greased baking dish and grill in a pre-heated oven at 180C (set the oven to grill i.e. only the upper coils are heated and place the chicken on the topmost rack). When one side is grilled and golden, turn over to allow the other side to turn golden. Takes about 10 minutes for each side.

Remove from the oven and serve with mustard sauce.