Almond and Coconut Crusted Chicken

 

 

My sister Cindy is a bit of a healthy nut (Flat Belly Files), in a very good way of course. She's been talking to me about the health benefits of coconut oil over the past weeks and so recently I bought some to try out for myself. She only uses coconut oil, and even makes biscuits with them. 

  The health benefits of coconut oil include hair care, skin care, stress relief, maintaining cholesterol levels, weight loss, increased immunity, proper digestion and metabolism, relief from kidney problems, heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV and cancer, dental care, and bone strength. These benefits of coconut oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid, and its properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, antibacterial, soothing, etc.

 

 She eats lots of grains and sprouts her own lentils, makes her own yoghurt . . . eats lots of fruits and fresh veg, etc. all organic . . . and, I have to admit it shows . . . for a woman of 54, she is in incredibly good shape and is very fit. So . . . I bought some organic virgin coconut oil for myself. 

It is purpoted to be one of the healthiest of oils and superfoods, and is ideal to be used as a high temperature cooking oil as it can be heated to much higher temperatures than normal oil. I also heard it makes really good popcorn!

 

I decided to use it in this baked chicken recipe of mine, which I think is fairly healthy . . . except for the fat bit. Normally I would use butter for this . . . but on this day I used coconut oil, which went really well with the other elements of the dish.

   

 I like to use free range, organic boneless skinless chicken breasts. (I know you don't need to use these, but if I am eating meat or chicken, I want it to be happy meat or chicken. To me it just tastes better.) 

 I pounded them just a bit to make them a bit more tender . . . and then lightly spiced them with a medium strength curry powder, some fine seasalt and black pepper . . .

   

 Then I dipped them into some coconut oil and rolled them in a mixture of crushed flaked almonds and flaked unsweetened coconut. Baked for 20 minutes, they came out perfectly moist and delicious. 

 The coconut oil only slightly flavoured them, but in a good way . . . not overpowering at all . . . and the nuts and coconut got nicely browned and gave a nice bit of crunch!! Probably a lot more nutritious than bread crumbs too . . . with plenty of protein and texture.

   

 I served them with a simple sweet and spicy mayo that I made by stirring together some low fat Hellman's and a really good Mango Chutney. (I like Geeta's Premium myself.)

   

 What can I say . . . Yummy Scrummy! I am looking forward to experimenting even more with it now . . . the coconut oil that is. I'll keep you all posted!

 

*Almond and Coconut Crusted Chicken with a Sweet and Spicy Mayo Dip* Serves 2 Printable Recipe If you like coconut, you will love this.  Moist chicken with a crisp and coconutty crust, served up with a spicy sweet mayo on the side. 60g of flaked almonds, crushed (about 1/3 cup) 25g of flaked coconut, not the sweetened kind (about 1/3 cup) 1/4 tsp of medium strength curry powder fine seasalt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 2 large boneless skinless chicken breast portions, at room temperature 1 heaped dessert spoon of coconut oil, melted For the dip: 2 dessert spoons of low fat or no fat mayonnaise 1 dessert spoon of mango chutney (use a good quality one) Preheat the oven to 200*C/ 400*D/ gas mark 6.  Butter a small shallow baking dish, and set aside. Mix together the crushed almonds and coconut in a shallow bowl.  Put the melted coconut oil in another one.   Place the chicken breasts into a ziplock baggie and bash them a bit with a rolling pin to give you an equal thickness and to tenderize them.  (Don't over do this stage.  You don't want them to be over large, just more even.)   Mix together the curry powder, salt and pepper.  Pat the chicken breasts dry and then season them all over with the spice mixture.  Dip the chicken into the coconut oil, allowing any excess to drip off.  Dredge in the coconut/almond mixture.   Place into the prepared baking dish, leaving space between each. Sprinkle any remaining coconut and nuts over top and then drizzle with any remaining coconut oil.  Bake for about 20  minutes, until golden brown and cooked through.  The juices should run clear. While the chicken is cooking, stir together the mayonnaise and chutney until well mixed.  Serve the hot chicken breasts with some of the chutney mayo on the side.

 My sister is in Canada and she buys her coconut oil here. I got mine here in the UK at this place.

It's not cheap, but I got it at a very good price, almost half the cost it normally is. Coconut oil . . . tis good for your health. I hear it also makes a fabulous skin cream!