Day 34: Sesame-crusted chicken with red cabbage coleslaw

As we say in Donegal, it was a whole handling. There I was going to make Sesame-crusted chicken with Red cabbage coleslaw and a few minutes into making it when I realised I didn’t have any Chinese five-spice powder! It is so annoying when that happens! Now, it wouldn’t be so bad and totally understandable if I didn’t have every spice and herb from A-Z in the house except this one. Just ask my friend Elaine as she helped pack up my kitchen when we moved house three years ago. She wrote the funniest messages on the boxes and I still keep one of them in the kitchen. Furthermore, I was going to buy some the other day in the supermarket but thought “Ah sure I have that at home already” so I didn’t. So annoying. I know I definitely had some at one point and ransacked the kitchen looking for it but in vain. Never one to be beat, I Googled a five-spice powder and managed to make my own version using ground ginger, ground cloves, ground cinnamon, salt, ground white pepper, ground white pepper. Out came the pestle and mortar and eventually I ended up with my own version of five-spice powder. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t need to add cayenne pepper or paprika but I thought a wee bit of this and a wee bit of that would do no harm.

Well, into a bowl went fresh breadcrumbs, sesame seeds, seasoning and the spice mix. I then beat two eggs, dipped each breast of chicken in the egg and then rolled them in the breadcrumb mix. I then put them on parchment paper on a baking tray and drizzled rapeseed oil over the chicken. Into the oven they went for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, I started on the Red cabbage coleslaw. I quartered a red cabbage, cut out the core and then finely sliced it. I then shredded a carrot and added a finely sliced a stick of celery and a chopped red onion. I finished it off by adding mayonnaise and seasoning and accompanied the chicken and coleslaw with corn of the cob. That was it.

The verdict…

Dear Husband gave the meal 7.75 marks out of ten (!). To be precise, 7 marks out of 10 for the chicken and 8 marks out of 10 for the coleslaw. I was really surprised about the high marks for the coleslaw from Dear Husband considering that it was something that didn’t have meat in it which normally means it gets lower marks. Dear Son ate the chicken but not coleslaw and, as he always does, ate away at the corn of the cob. I really like the coleslaw and gave it 8 marks out of 10 too.

Putting aside the fact that I had to improvise with my own version of five-spice powder, tonight’s dinner was really simple to make and Dear Husband liked it because it was something different. It has definitely made the list and I cooked an extra breast of chicken which Dear Husband can have with some mayonnaise for his sandwiches tomorrow. Now those are the kind of recipes I love – two meals in one! And for that reason alone, these recipes are highly recommended. Enjoy yours.