Marinating the chicken in yoghurt or buttermilk tenderises the meat, giving a very moist and succulent result. Polenta is ground cornmeal — you could also use panko crumbs (Japanese bread crumbs) or normal breadcrumbs instead — both give a crispy coating.
Chicken
| ½ cup | Plain unsweetened yoghurt, or buttermilk |
| 4 | Chicken thighs, boneless, skinless (about 400g) cut into 3cm thick strips (Main) |
| ⅓ cup | Plain flour, seasoned with salt & pepper |
| 2 | Eggs, beaten |
| ¾ cup | Polenta, instant or fine |
| ¼ cup | Rice bran oil, canola oil or soybean oil |
Chips
| 1 ½ Tbsp | Olive oil |
| 4 | Agria potatoes, large, scrubbed and cut into 2cm thick wedges (Main) |
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Directions
- Mix chicken strips with the yoghurt or buttermilk and leave to marinate for at least 1 hour, or up to 12 hours. This process tenderises the chicken.
- To make the chips, preheat oven to 200C. Line an oven tray with baking paper. Drizzle olive oil over potato wedges and toss (using your hands) to coat well. Lay wedges on lined oven tray and season with salt. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden.
- To cook the chicken strips, place the flour, beaten eggs and polenta in separate bowls. Lift the chicken strips out of the marinade and coat first in the flour, followed by the egg, and then the polenta. Set aside.
- Heat oil in a large fry-pan on medium heat. Shallow fry crumbed chicken for 2 minutes each side until light golden (you may need to do this in 2 batches), then drain on paper towels and season with salt. In the last 5 minutes of cooking time for the wedges, transfer chicken to the oven tray to cook with the wedges for a further 5 minutes.
- Serve hot from the oven with tomato sauce.
