Macadamia Coconut Crusted Chicken with Mango Jicama Salad

Finally, a recipe that isn't a baked good! I've been playing around with this salad for a couple of weeks and am pretty happy with this version.

My favorite way to serve this is to toss baby salad greens with a little dressing, mound the mango mixture of top of that and finally place the sliced chicken over the very top.

If you hate coconut, just replace it with an equal amount of panko. And if you are careful you might be able to fool your kids into thinking this is just chicken nuggets.

For those of you offended by the amount of fat in the Macaroni and Cheese, please take note that this salad dressing is very low fat.

Macadamia Coconut Crusted Chicken with Mango Jiicama Salad

Prepare salad and let rest while cooking chicken. To serve, toss baby lettuce greens with dressing, mound the mango/jicama mixture on top, slice each chicken tender into 6 or 7 slices and place atop salad.



Mango Lime Salad Dressing

1 medium mango
¼ cup rice vinegar
½ cup firmly packed cilantro
¼ red pepper, cut into large chunks
¼ cup honey
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 garlic clove
salt and pepper to taste

Peel mango, roughly chop flesh. Place mango and all other ingredients into blender or food processor and blend until very smooth.


Mango Jicama Salad

1 red pepper
1 small jicama
2 or 3 mangoes
1 avocado
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
baby lettuce greens

Cut first four ingredients into medium dice. Add sliced green onions. Gently toss mixture with enough salad dressing to evenly coat. When ready to serve toss baby lettuce with dressing. Mound mango mixture on top



Macadamia Coconut Crusted Chicken

2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
½ cup unsalted roasted macadamia nuts
½ cup sweetened flaked coconut
½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ lbs chicken tenders
2 eggs
½ cup flour
2 or 3 tablespoons vegetable oil for sauteing

Prepare chicken: using the palm of your hand gently smash each tenderloin to an even thickness and pat dry with paper towels.

Prepare crust: place macadamia nuts and coconut in bowl of food processor. Using pulse button grind mixture to the size of large bread crumbs, about 8 or 9 pulses. Add panko and salt and pulse only long enough to incorporate all ingredients. Transfer mixture to a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl whisk eggs until smooth. Place flour in a third bowl.

Coat the bottom of a large nonstick skillet with just enough vegetable oil to cover surface. Preheat skillet.

Working one at a time, coat each tenderloin in flour, dip into egg mixture, then into crumb mixture, pressing firmly to encourage crumbs to stick.

Place chicken tenders into hot skillet, making sure to not crowd pan. (It will take several batches.) Cook several minutes until crust is nicely browned. Turn each piece, adding a little more oil if necessary. Continue cooking until second side is brown and chicken is cooked through. Remove tenders from pan and place on cooling rack while cooking next batch.

Let cooked chicken rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.