Nutty Coconut Chicken

Cut the chicken in strips lengthwise. Add the coconut milk in a medium size bowl. Add the strips of chicken to the bowl and let marinate for about 30 minutes.

Remove the strips of chicken from the bowl and set a large plate. Discard the leftover coconut milk that was in the bowl. Sprinkle the pepper, garlic powder, and salt on each side of the chicken. Set aside for a moment.

In a food processor, add the walnuts, almonds, and shredded coconut. Use the grind setting to chop them into the smallest pieces possible. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the nut mixture on to a small plate. Lay one chicken strip on the nut mixture and gently press down to coat one side of the chicken with the nuts.

Then turn over the chicken strip and gently lay it on the nut mixture to coat the other side. Set aside the coated piece of chicken on to a large plate and repeat the coating process for 2 more chicken strips.

After coating the third strip of chicken, the nut mixture on the plate may start to get lumpy from the residual coconut milk. Discard the small amount of nut mixture left on the plate and wipe off any coconut milk from the plate with a paper towel. Next, add about 3 more tablespoons of the nut mixture to the plate and repeat the coating process.

Add a cooling rack on top of a large plate for use after the chicken is cooked. Set aside. Heat a large skillet on medium heat and add the canola oil.

Then gently add each strip of coated chicken to the pan. It works best if a cooking fork is used rather than tongs when moving and turning the chicken so that the nut mixture doesn’t come off.

Keep a close eye on the chicken as its cooking and as soon as the bottom side starts to turn a golden brown color, gently turn the pieces over. If the chicken is browning too quickly, turn the heat down just a bit. Once both sides of the chicken are brown, gently remove them from the skillet on to the cooling rack.

Some of the nut coating may come off the chicken when cooking. For the residual nut mixture that’s left in the pan, scoop it out with a small spoon (tilt the spoon in the pan after scooping out the nuts to drain off the oil) and lay the nuts on top of the strips of chicken.

Sprinkle the chicken with about 3 dashes of salt (or salt to taste). Serve warm on top of a salad or over your favorite rice. For a nuttier flavor, drizzle peanut sauce over the chicken just before serving.