Seeded Chicken with simple Freekeh Salad
Serves: 2
Time: 30 mins
This chicken is inspired by Ottolenghi. I have used a variety of seeds that I had in my cupboards; you can mix it up with whatever you have or go simple and just use bread crumbs.
Leftovers
Lunch for tomorrow could either be made into a salad or a wrap.
Make your own almond meal
Almond meal can cost a fortune and we almost always have almonds in the house, so why not throw them in the food processor and blitz down to a crumb. Don't worry if it doesn't come up as fine as the store bought ones, it will still work perfectly.
What you'll need
2 chicken breasts
1 cup of freekeh (brown rice would also work)
1 bunch of radishes
1/2 packet of baby spinach
1/2 radicchio lettuce
2 tablespoons currants
1/2 cup of greek yoghurt
1 tablespoon of tahini
1 lemon
2 eggs
1/4 cup of plain or besan flour
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
2 tablespoons of hemp seeds (optional) alternately chopped sunflower
2 tablespoons millet seeds (optional) alternately chopped pumpkin seeds
4 tablespoons almond meal or breadcrumbs
From the Pantry
coconut oil
sea salt and pepper
Optional for Veggo’s
1/2 butternut pumpkin
Prep and Cook
Cook Freekeh
Place one cup of freekeh in a pot with 3 cups of cold water and a pinch of salt.
Bring up to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and simmer gently with a lid on until all the liquid has gone.
Set aside with the lid still on.
Prep Salad
Finely slice your radishes into thin rounds.
Wash radicchio and rip up into bite sized pieces.
In a small bowl mix together the yogurt, tahini, juice of half the lemon and some salt and pepper.
Remove the lid from your freekeh and fluff with a fork.
Prep Chicken
We are essentially crumbing so what you need are three separate flat dishes.
Put the flour along with a good pinch of salt and some cracked pepper in the first dish.
And 2 whisked eggs in another dish.
Combine all your seeds and the almond meal or breadcrumbs in the last dish.
Slice your chicken breasts in half horizontally so that it looks like you have 4 breasts.
Then working in this order:
Dip each piece of chicken into the flour.
Then the egg.
And press into your seed mix.
Wait for the oil to heat up.
Test to see if the oil is hot enough before you put the chicken in, it will give off a slight sizzle when you drop a seed in. This is very important; if your oil is not hot enough your seed mix will likely fall off when you're cooking, so please be patient and wait - it does take a little while longer to heat up properly when it's only on a medium to high heat.
Fry Chicken
In a large non-stick frypan heat around 3 tablespoons of coconut oil to a medium high heat. (do not cook on high, your seeds will be overcooked before your chicken is cooked)
Once the oil is hot place your chicken in gently and cook for one minute on each side.
Repeat and cook each side again for one minute. Cooking each side twice like this means you are less likely to burn the seeds.
Everyone’s stove cooks a little different so check your chicken now to see if it is cooked right through; if not repeat.
Toss Salad
Mix all your salad ingredients together with a good pinch of sea salt.
Spread the yoghurt dressing across your plate then pile the salad on top.
Serve the chicken alongside with a wedge of lemon and sprinkle over the chicken with a touch of sea salt.
Enjoy!
Lunch tomorrow
All your leftovers would work really well in a wrap for lunch.