Indian Flavours Split Pea Crusted Chicken

5 Medium

Prep 20 min Cook 60 min

I love spicy flavours and these Indian Flavours Split Pea Crusted Chicken pieces are bite size taste sensations with a fantastic yoghurt sauce to dip into or pour over.

Makes 20 skewers of chicken. Spiced Yoghurt dressing makes 1 cup.

This is a fantastic yoghurt sauce that is ideal to serve alongside any barbeque meats, curries or as a salad dressing.

Indian Chicken Ingredients

• 2 x 200g chicken breast fillets, butterflied
• 3 cloves minced ginger
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 green chilli, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. cumin ground
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• 1 ½ tsps. brown sugar
• Salt and pepper

Batter

• ½ cup chick pea flour
• ¼ cup water
• 2 tsps. oil
• Salt and pepper

Indian Spiced Crust

• 100g bread crumbs
• 100g yellow mung dahl
• Good pinch chilli powder
• ½ tsp. fennel seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns
• Salt and pepper

Spiced Yoghurt Dressing

• 2 tsps. whole cumin seeds
• 2 tsps. whole coriander seeds
• ½ tsp. cinnamon ground
• Good pinch ground chilli
• 2 clove garlic
• 200ml thick natural yoghurt
• Zest of ½ orange and ½ lemon

Recipe Steps

In a mortar and pestle, smash the garlic, ginger and chilli and then add the ground spices and sugar and season. Cut the chicken breasts into even pieces and marinate in the spices for at least 20 minutes.

Batter – Combine ingredients in a blender or food processor until fluffy.

Prepare the crust by processing the cashews, yellow dahl, spices and blend until it resembles rough breadcrumbs, crush the spices and mix this with the cashews etc.

Remove the chicken from the marinade and dip into the batter finishing with pressing the chicken into the crust mixture until covered generously.

Heat a heavy based pan with the oil and test by dropping in a half a teaspoon of batter mixture, when it bubbles up and turns golden the oil is ready. Gently place the chicken pieces into the oil in batches and cook until golden, about 3-4 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towel.

Yoghurt dressing – Dry roast the spices over a moderate temperature until aromatic. Grind them in a mortar and pestle along with the cinnamon, chilli and garlic, lemon and orange zest and combine with the yoghurt. Marinate for 20 minutes.

Serve crusted chicken pieces with lemon wedges and yoghurt dressing.