Bang Bang Chicken

When we had our little cafe here, a friend of ours asked if we could do something special for her. You see, she was a little older and single and really didn’t like cooking for one.  Would I be able to provide her with 7 meals a week, pre-packaged into individually sized potions and delivered every Sunday?

I had never done anything like this before, but I was willing to try anything to make money at the time.  So in addition to the food I made for the cafe every day, I also scheduled a week’s worth of food for her.  She had lived in different Asian countries for over 20 years, so she mostly asked for rice and chicken dishes, any which was I could come up with.

At first I thought that this was going to be really hard.  After all, at that time, with everything that was going on, I barely wanted to make food for my own family.  But, in reality, this request was totally helping us eat real meals during such a crazy time.  Why? Because I didn’t just make a serving for her, I usually doubled my normal recipes and set aside her portion and froze it in adorable, individual sized freezer bags.  That means, on those crazy nights when I will still cooking until midnight, my children and husband could check what was in the freezer and warm it up in under a few minutes.  Voila.  A homemade meal cooked by mommy and wifie …. just not today.

There are many theories out there as to why this recipe is named the way it is. The most popular one is that they had to bang the chicken on the counter to flatten it, which doesn’t apply here because I like these in chunk rather than flattened. I’d rather like to think it’s because of the zest in the sauce.  Whatever reason, I’m glad it’s around. You can eat it any way you choose: over rice, in a tortilla, or just straight out of the bowl.

Make sure you make extra sauce for dipping, it’s goooooood.

INGREDIENTS:

SAUCE:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup Frank’s Red hot original sauce
• 1 TAB sriracha
• 2 TAB honey
• salt and pepper

CHICKEN:

• 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 TAB garlic powder
• 1 TAB paprika
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 TAB sriracha
• 2-3 cups Panko breadcrumbs
• vegetable oil for frying

DIRECTIONS:

For the sauce, combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, cornstarch, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper.  In a separate bowl, combine hot sauce, egg, and buttermilk and whisk until smooth. Add wet ingredients to dry and combine well.  Add chicken to bowl and toss well to make sure each piece is coated in batter.

Pour about a cup of panko crumbs into a shallow bowl.  Add cooking oil to coat the bottom of your skillet and heat over medium-high. Coat each piece of chicken in the panko and add more breadcrumbs as necessary. Cook chicken for about 3 minutes a side or until cooked through and crispy.  Drain on paper towels.  Repeat until all chicken is cooked. Drizzle with sauce and serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.