Chicken Kiev is a dish of chicken fillet pounded and rolled around cold butter, then coated with eggs and bread crumbs, and either fried or baked.

This being an authentic Russian dish, with that I mean -Ukrainian, and with that I mean French. Hope I am not confusing you, but let that just sink in for five seconds. However, this dish did not used to be called a chicken Kiev until Jimmy’s la grange restaurant in New York started calling it that. Most foodies refer this chicken dish as “a stuffed chicken recipe with herbal butter so did I -until I stumbled upon this name after doing some research, and here we are – just going with the foodie flow. 🙂

Stay with me and let’s get over the ingredients.

Prep time: 40 mins   Fry time: 10 mins  Bake time: 20 mins  Total time: 70 mins

Serves: 4 people

MAIN INGREDIENTS:

• 4 boneless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup of butter = 8 Tablespoons -at room temp
• 2 bunches of finely chopped cilantro
• 5 cloves of minced or crushed garlic
• Spices of your choice: – Salt + black pepper + cayenne chili powder + nutmeg + turmeric + ginger + garlic powder + paprika
• Weetabix – IN PLACE of bread crumbs = My preferrence
• 3 eggs – at room temp
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• 1 -1/2 cups of flour
• Vegetable oil – Shallow frying

Important tools:

• Parchment paper
• Tooth picks
• frying pan
• knife
• an oven
• baking trays
• fridge
• mortar & pestle – OPTIONAL

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Mix the spices all in one bowl – set aside. On a baking tray, place the chicken breast there and on each breast, make a small insertion in the middle without completely slicing the chicken into two to act like a pocket or a cavity. This pocket will be stuffed with the garlic + cilantro butter mixture.
2. Making the garlic butter mixture: You can either finely chop the garlic or mince it. The choice is yours. In a different bowl, add the minced garlic + chopped cilantro + seasoning and butter. Mix them well together. Place the garlic butter mixture onto a piece of parchment paper – cover and chill it in the freezer for 20 mins. This mixture will definitely be more than I need. Thank God it can be used for a future use.

2. Pre heat the oven to : 190°C. Once the butter is hard enough, slice the butter and stuff it into the chicken, and seal it with toothpicks. Massage the spices to the chicken breast, one at a time, dust it first into the flour > egg wash  { eggs + milk + salt & black pepper} > crushed weetabix {or you can use bread crumbs}.

3. Shallow frying the coated chicken breasts. This will help keep the garlic mixture intact. NOTE:  the shallow frying is not to completely cook the chicken, just until the outside of the chicken is browned and slightly crisp, -then the baking will help it cook completely.

4. Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 mins on rack 3 of the oven.

5. Feel free to serve it lightly with some steam greens of a salad.

Other tips and tricks:

For the chicken breasts: – before stuffing the garlic butter mix, you can decide to slice each chicken breast like a butterfly”- Place a plastic wrap at the bottom and top of the chicken, using a rolling pin, beat it to be slightly flat. Place a slice of cold garlic butter, roll it over and fasten the edges with toothpicks before shallow frying them.

The left over garlic butter – can be used on other recipes to act in place of the olive oil or any other cooking oils. This is a better and convenient way to store herbs and to reuse them since they can go bad really quickly if not handled properly.

…..and as always Bon appetite and Enjoy.

Acres & Acres of Love.

TD.

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