Kids love chicken schnitzel (most adults too!)

I am teaching a lesson next week for a family with 4 kids. Each child and the parents have differing dietary preferences, hence the mom calling me in to train up her housekeepers to help with the cooking. 

The one dish all the kids unanimously love are chicken schnitzel but I had never made them before. Today I experimented and think the below recipe is just delicious. Kids and adults alike will just love them. Super tender and well flavoured chicken, coated in golden crispy batter. 

The process is pretty messy in terms of the amount of dishes one needs to dirty, using ones hands to batter and frying in batches, so make sure your maid is coming the next day. 

Prep up all your side dishes, set the table and get yourself well organised before frying the schnitzel. All the planning will be well worth it when you see the enjoyment of your family and friends. 

Chicken Schnitzel

Makes 8 small schnitzels

4 chicken breasts, skinless boneless

1 cup of bread flour

1 ½ cups of bread crumbs of choice

2 large eggs

2 tsp of Dijon mustard

1 tsp of Worchester sauce

½ tsp of dried thyme

¼ tsp of salt

2 tsp of olive oil

½ tsp of sesame oil

½ cup of vegetable oil for frying

Pre heat the oven to 80°C, place the rack in the middle of the oven and put the serving dish you plan to serve the schnitzels on in the oven.

Place a wire rack onto a baking sheet. This is where the chicken will rest before frying. Set out four dinner plates and a chopping board. In one dinner plate, line it with paper towel and have more standing ready; in two dinner plates sprinkle the one with the flour and the other with the bread crumbs. Season each with a pinch or two of salt. Whisk together the egg wash ingredients until well combined, pour that into the last dinner plate.

On the chopping board trim the little fillets out of each chicken breast reserving them for another dish. Trim any fat or gristle too. Cut each breast slightly on the diagonal into two fairly equal sized pieces. Using a meat mallet flatten one piece of chicken until it is about ½ - ¾ cm all over. Dredge that through the flour shaking all the excess flour off. Then lay it into the egg wash on each side and allow the egg to drip off. Lay it into the bread crumbs pressing firmly down in order to build up the crust. Flip it a few times coating it evenly with crumbs. Then shake off the loose bits and lay it on the wire rack. Repeat with one more piece of chicken.

Get a large frying pan heating to medium high heat. Add about 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil – more if you not shy of oil. Once the pan is hot lay both pieces of chicken into the pan and allow them to fry for about 2 – 3 minutes until they are deep golden brown. Then flip and drop the heat to medium and continue frying on that side for about 2 minutes. Once they are ready place them onto the kitchen towel lined plate and drain off the extra oil. Place them into the oven to keep warm.

While frying the first schnitzels, flatted and batter the next two. Fully clean out the pan and add fresh oil before frying the next batch. Keep going in this order until all 8 schnitzels are cooked. Serve immediately with lemon wedges and the sides of your choice.