Korma Chicken Nuggets

My kids love chicken nuggets. I love them too. But I don't like what's in them. The chicken content is usually very low compared to the additives and bulkers they fill them out with and they are considered by most as junk food. But they don't have to be. I have tried various healthy chicken nugget recipes over the years, all of which include mincing the chicken, which is time consuming and messy and then frying them, which is equally time consuming and messy! 

Finally, I have a version that is quick to make, requires no mushing of the meat and gives you a proper bite of real chicken surrounded by a baked flavoured crumb. No blending and shaping, no frying smell filling the house, no batch cooking in oil. Just a simple 2 step recipe and into the oven to bake.

I used sourdough but you can use any bread you like. 

Ingredients:

The Chicken: 4 large chicken breasts (cut into large chunks), 1.5 tbsp Greek yoghurt, 1 large egg, the juice and rind of 1 medium lemon, 4 large cloves of garlic, 1 tsp paprika powder, 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp dried mixed herbs, 1 tbsp korma paste (You can also make these leaving this step out if you just want nuggets without the mild curry taste but it is a great way to introduce young children to the flavours as there is no hot spice!) Salt and pepper to season.

The Crumb: 1 small loaf of Sourdough bread (around 250g made plenty with a bit spare), 60g grated Parmesan cheese, 3 tbsp olive oil and 1tsp mixed herbs. Salt and pepper to season.

Method: Mix all of the above chicken ingredients together. You can throw it all in a metal tray or flat oven dish, mix it with your hands until combined and put it in the fridge for an hour to marinate.

Make a simple crumb by adding all of the above crumb ingredients to a food processor and whizzing it up. 

Tip the crumb mix into something flat like a baking tray with an edge. 

Once the chicken has had time to soak up the flavours, roll each piece in the breadcrumbs and simply pop on a baking tray lined with parchment paper so it doesn't stick and this way you don't need any oil or anything to cook with.

Preheat the oven to 180°and bake these for around 20 minutes or until golden and cooked all the way through ( Often oven dependant!). 

Batch it: Once coated, before cooking, these can be stored in the freezer on the baking trays so they freeze separately and then transferred into freezer bags to cook another time. 

Make it stretch: Any form of coated chicken is also tasty cold the next day. Use for a packed lunch in a wrap or with salad to make one meal go further. If there are any left over! We ate the all!

Get in the goodness: This is a wonderful way to start incorporating better bread into the kids diets. Sourdough is more gut friendly and not heavily artificially processed. As a slice, the kids will notice the difference if they're not used to it because it looks like real bread, which lots of kids have never seen! But by whizzing it up like this, it is just a chicken nugget crumb and tastes great.