Oven-Fried Coconut Chicken

For Father's Day, I made my dad a dinner that encompassed two of his favorite flavors, namely coconut and fried things.

I got the recipe from Cooking Light, but my adaptation isn't very cholesterol friendly.  (It's a manly holiday! Who cares about fat?)  I used regular coconut milk because the supermarket was out of light, and kept the skin on most of them because, frankly, what's the point of eating fried chicken without the skin?  Of the two drumsticks I did skin (for mom's sake), I noticed that the panko and coconut flakes had a much harder time staying on. 

Anyway, on to the recipe.

Oven-Fried Coconut Chicken (makes 8 drumsticks)

1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp hot pepper sauce (I used Tabasco)
1 14-oz. can coconut milk
8 chicken drumsticks (you can also use wings, breasts, heads, whatever)
3/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
3/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Cooking spray

1. Open the can of coconut milk and mix in lime juice and hot pepper sauce.  Pour into a large ziptop plastic bag (or 2 small bags).  Add chicken and seal.  Marinate in the fridge for half an hour to an hour, depending on how desperately hungry you are. 

2.  Go do something else.  Like dishes.

3.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

4.  Combine panko, coconut flakes, salt, and black pepper in a shallow dish.  Mix with your hands.  Remove chicken from marinade and dredge in the mixture, 1 piece at a time. 

5.  Place chicken on a baking sheet  lined with parchment.  If you don't have parchment, use aluminum foil but add a light coat of cooking spray.  Lightly coat chicken with cooking spray also. 

6.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden bornw.  Carefully turn chicken over with tons and bake for another 30 minutes or until done.

I wasn't a big fan of the biscuits so I'm not going to give the recipe.  (But if they look too good in the picture and you really want the recipe, just go on Epicurious.com and do a search for biscuits.  It was in a 1999 issue of Gourmet.)  They were a bit too salty and crumbled way too easily.  Next time I'll try a buttermilk recipe and see how that goes.

Pairing:  For tropical flavored dishes I almost always go for beer over wine.  The Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre Ale had hints of green grapes and was good for getting my dad out of his Heineken rut.

Comments

[rob watson]

looks good , and i'm about to mix it up, i'll let ya know how they turn out

[rob watson]

looks good , and i'm about to mix it up, i'll let ya know how they turn out