Coconut Panko Oven Fried Chicken

This chicken is quick and surprisingly delicious, goes well with the coconut vegetable basmati rice.

Main ingredients

• 2 pieces of chicken breasts, skinned
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup panko - Japanese breadcrumbs
  
• 4 Tbl butter
• 1 egg
• 1-2 Tbl soy sauce
• 1 Tbl cornstarch
  

Spices

• Cumin - 1 Tbl
  
• Curry powder - 1/2 Tbl
  
• Oregano or cilantro flakes optional
  
• Salt, pepper to taste
  

Optional Gravy ingredients

• Chicken broth
• Coconut milk
• Cooking alcohol (wine, rice wine)
  

Baking pan, oven at 350-360 deg. F.

Dot butter in bottom of baking dish with fingers, flatten the dots out a bit til bottom is overed.

In a large flat-bottomed bowl, mix together cornstarch, spices, coconut flakes and panko. I sometimes add oregano or cilantro or even basil flakes here.

In a small bowl beat egg, add soy sauce, a bit of water to stretch if you have more than 2 pieces of chicken.

Dip chicken, one piece at a time, in egg mix, then roll in coconut-panko mix.

Put in pan and bake uncovered at 350 - 360 degrees for 25 minutes. Turn chicken pieces and continue baking 20- 25 minutes more.

Remove the chicken and add a suitable amount of chicken broth with coconut milk to the bottom of the baking pan, and a bit of alcohol of choice to reduce the butter etc., mix, add salt and pepper to taste, and that is your gravy.

If you want a more robust gravy, then add some pureed fruit (any fruit, I'm not picky, but aficioanados will tell you the pulpy ones are better, apricot, peach, grape, plum ... vs apple), more butter (or olive oil), rice wine vinegar, chicken broth, brown sugar, mustard, salt and chili powder... and cook 'til blended. This is really in the duck sauce family but goes great with this sort of baked chicken.

Coconut Vegetable Basmati Rice

I have not been posting, but I have been cooking up a storm, mostly for Buddha Kitty, who has been diagnosed with chronic renal failure. Well, that's what the blood tests say, of course, I always said starting a year ago, that by the time they get around to diagnosing his liver/kidney issues using blood tests my cat will be near death.

That, of course, is EXACTLY what happened, *fork* over a few thou anyways.

Interestingly, in this journey, Buddha Kitty has taught me a lot about homeopathics, holistic approaches, integrative medicine, asshole vs. sainted vets, and how owners must stick to their Cat's instincts, always.

He was losing weight dramatically; this meant getting and keeping food in him was a life-and-death challenge. His digestive system finally did get jump-started, *that's* a whole 'nother blog especially considering how many thousands of pet owners have furry loved ones with CRF after that bloody, terroristic pet food attack last year - and when it did, my beautiful cat began to eat.... and how! and what? What did he eat? eye-talian food!

Yep, that'd be prosciutto, bologna, chicken cooked with garlic, oregano, bit of cheese and tomato, more prosicutto, does he not like the dish? - put some tomato paste over it - for that matter, pour tomato soup with corn, fresh corn on the cob, aparagus, screw the rice, how about orzo instead. Fish? Cod? Okaaay but I prefer fillet of sole please... baked with a smidge of olive oil, garlic and basil... and frigging kale, which the sainted vet-author Carol Schwartz who wrote "Four Paws, Five Directions" about TCM for pets, has a recipe for CRF cats that includes kale, and asparagus, so dear folks, we ignore my sainted CAT's internal food taste machine at our own peril!

My beautiful, soulful Buddha cat, coming back from a CRF death ... on Italian food... yeah, yeah, he's got the science diet k/d out, also the modified diet kibble, he eats those too, plus about a tray of 20 different feline nutritional and herbal and other supplements, some prescription, others not, plus three difference kinds of cat vitamins and minerals... that he gets delivered through a feeding syringe twice a day, plus his sub-q fluids etc. etc. etc. But, make no mistake, he puts up with all of that ONLY if he gets fed pure Italian.

I kid you not. Sainted vet says (when I asked about the salty prosciutto) as long as he's eating we'll worry fine-tuning the "what" later, right now he's got to put on weight so whatever he's eating within reason, fine. Just watch the garlic and no onions and make sure he gets the canned and the kibble also.

Cat is now back to demanding food every two hours, demanding I get off the phone and pet him, demanding fresh-laundered, warm white towels for him to recline over, and looking at me with those magical aqua blue eyes from 10 thousand times 10 thousand years ago.

Back in action he is, a 6-7 on a scale of 1 to 10, better than the 1-2 he was mere weeks ago, proving for once and for all the kitchen is the medicine cabinet of first resort. You want to know what worked, it'll cost ya, not giving any of that away for free anymore.

I go back to where I left off, predictably with Mr. Coconut. I'll fix the vinegar and other sections in a bit, I am a busy, traveling person in a HURRY!

Coconut Vegetable Basmati Rice

SERVES 4

• 1 cup basmati rice
• 4 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt

Coconut etc.

• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup coconut cream/milk
• ½ cup shredded coconut (optional)

Vegetables

• ½ cup green peas (fresh, froze, whatever)
  
• ½ cup carrots - cut in strips, bit pieces
  

Spices

• 1 small cinnamon stick
• 4-6 cardamom pods
• 4-6 cloves
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp fenugreek seeds (optional)

METHOD

• Clean wash soak rice in water for 15 minutes, drain, set aside
• Heat oil in pan
• Add all spices stir for about 1 minute - don't let it smoke esp. if you're using cinnamon powder instead of a stick
  
• Add vegetables (green peas and carrots), and optional shredded coconut; stir fry for 4 minutes, keep the heat to stir-fry level.
  
• Add rice, salt, chicken broth with coconut milk
• Bring to a boil, cover the pan and turn down to low
• Simmer for 12-15 minutes

Serve with curry or yogurt. The picture does not do it justice, when I removed the cover to take the snap, the aroma was intoxicating. So the most accurate way to look at the picture is to imagine being suddenly intoxicated.