These chicken sticks work awesome either as a snack, or as a full meal. They’re also a great crowd feeder and can be assembled beforehand right up to the point of brushing them with oil and roasting. The fact that you don’t have to deep fry them means that they’re a bit healthier and less fussy. Overall, I’m keeping a stack of them in my freezer for those days when all you need is some fried chicken in your life.

I served them with this creamy mushroom sauce from previous post and they were to die for.

INGREDIENTS:

(Yields about 50 chicken sticks / 0.18 EUR per stick / 8.97 EUR for all)

For the chicken:

1 kilo boneless skinless chicken breast (5.33 EUR)

1 tsp salt (0.01 EUR)

For the egg batter:

3 eggs (0.60 EUR)

1 cup all-purpose flour (0.07 EUR)

¼ cup water (–)

Good pinch of salt (0.01 EUR)

Good pinch of freshly ground black pepper (0.01 EUR)

For the crumb batter:

2 cups breadcrumbs (0.40 EUR)

1 cup finely grated hard cheese, like Grana Padano (1.33 EUR)

½ cup sesame seeds (0.33 EUR)

1 tsp smoked paprika (0.07 EUR)

1 tsp cumin seeds (0.07 EUR)

1 tsp garlic powder (0.07 EUR)

½ tsp dried chili flakes (0.03 EUR)

½ tsp salt (0.01 EUR)

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper (0.02 EUR)

4 tbsp butter, melted (0.53 EUR)

For roasting:

¼ cup sunflower seed oil (0.08 EUR)

METHOD:

Cut chicken breast into thin strips, toss with salt and set aside. Prepare the egg batter by whisking together all of the ingredients until thick and smooth. Make the crumb batter in a separate bowl by stirring together breadcrumbs, cheese, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, chili flakes, salt and black pepper. Pour melted butter over the mixture and massage it into the crumbs with your fingers. The finished product should feel like damp sand.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Prepare a few baking trays by lining them with parchment paper. You can also bake chicken on a wire rack, but I find the baking tray easier to clean up and the chicken turns out just as crispy. To assemble chicken sticks, first coat each chicken piece with an egg batter, then toss in the crumb batter. Spread chicken pieces on a prepared baking tray. At this point you can also freeze the chicken for later. Just place the tray in a freezer and after 2-3 hours transfer chicken pieces to a zip lock bag. There’s no need to thaw the chicken before roasting, just brush the sticks with a bit of oil and toss into the oven.

When you are gonna roast the chicken, brush each peace lightly with oil on all sides. Roast for 25 minutes, until crispy and golden-brown. Serve warm with a sauce of your choice for dipping. Also, invite some friends over because these are so addictive you’re otherwise going to polish them all off by yourself.

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Ovi pileći štapići su fantastični snack ili kompletni obrok. Također su super za nahraniti gomilu ljudi i možete ih pripremiti unaprijed, skroz do točke kada ćete ih premazati uljem i baciti u pećnicu. Činjenica što ih ne morate peći na štednjaku u dubokom ulju znači da su malo zdraviji i malo manje prtljavi. U svakom slučaju, u frizeru čuvam zalihu za one dane kada vam u životu stvarno trebaju pileći pohanci.

Ja sam ih poslužila sa ovim kremastim umakom od gljiva iz prošlog posta i bili su božanstveni.

SASTOJCI:

(Za 50tak pilećih štapića / 1,34 kn po štapiću / 67,13 kn za sve)

Za meso:

1 kg pilećeg filea (40,00 kn)

1 žličica soli (0,01 kn)

Za smjesu od jaja:

3 jaja (4,50 kn)

1 šalica glatkog brašna (0,50 kn)

¼ šalice vode (–)

Dobar prstohvat soli (0,01 kn)

Dobar prstohvat svježe mljevenog crnog papra (0,10 kn)

Za smjesu od krušnih mrvica:

2 šalice krušnih mrvica (3,00 kn)

1 šalica fino naribanog tvrdog sira, kao Grana Padano (10,00 kn)

½ šalice sjemenki sezama (2,50 kn)

1 žličica dimljene crvene paprike (0,50 kn)

1 žličica kima (0,50 kn)

1 žličica češnjaka u prahu (0,50 kn)

½ žličice sušenog čilija u pahuljicama (0,25 kn)

½ žličice soli (0,01 kn)

½ žličice svježe mljevenog crnog papra (0,15 kn)

4 žlice maslaca, rastopljene (4,00 kn)

Za pečenje:

¼ šalice suncokretovog ulja (0,60 kn)

PRIPREMA:

Narežite pileća prsa na tanke trakice, posolite i stavite na stranu. Pripremite smjesu od jaja tako da skupa razmutite sve sastojke u gusto i glatko tijesto. Smjesu od mrvica napravite u drugoj posudi tako da pomiješate krušne mrvice, sir, sezam, papriku, kim, češnjak, čili, sol i papar. Prelijte preko svega rastopljeni maslac i prstima umasirajte u smjesu. Konačna smjesa trebala bi sličiti vlažnom pijesku.

Zagrijte pećnicu na 200°C. Pripremite par protvana tako da ih obložite papirom za pečenje. Također možete peći štapiće i na rešetci, ali meni je protvan lakši za očistiti, a piletina ispadne jednako hrskava. Da pripremite štapiće, umočite komadiće mesa prvo u smjesu jaja, onda u krušne mrvice. Štapiće raširite po pripremljenom protvanu. U ovoj fazi možete piletinu i smrznuti za kasnije. Samo stavite cijeli protvan u zamrzivač, a nakon 2-3 sata preselite meso u vrećicu za smrzavanje. Prije pečenja štapiće ne treba odmrzavati, samo ih premažite sa malo ulja i ubacite u pećnicu.

Kada ćete peći meso, lagano premažite svaki pileći štapić sa malo ulja sa svih strana. Pecite 25 minuta, dok se meso ne zahrska i ne bude zlatno-smeđe. Poslužite toplo sa umakom po izboru za umakanje. Osim toga, pozovite prijatelje da vam pomognu jesti, jer su ovim štapići tako fini da ćete ih inače sami smazati.