Baked Chicken Cutlets with Tahini Sauce (Part 1)

Sauce Recipe Adapted from Curls and Carrots.

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Hello everyone!  I hope you are having a lovely, romantic, and adventurous day.  It’s Valentine’s Day after all.

I was waiting to make this dish before I complete and publish this post.  Finally, here it is.  This dish was prepared using my adaptation to this incredible, out of this world sauce from Curls And Carrots using tahini  instead of peanut butter.  I added and omitted some of the ingredients to cater to my children’s need.  It came out as amazing and delicious.

The owner of Curls and Carrots blog is Shanna K. Ward , a talented, kind and generous, versatile blogger, a mother of two adorable children, a friend and my PRCCSS (Pesto, Rice, Cinnamon, Cardamom Soul Sister). We call each other this because of our love of PRCC.

I browsed through her amazing blog one day and stumbled upon this unbelievably delicious and versatile recipe.  It took me a while to blog about it because when I made and tasted the sauce, holy guacamole!  I wanted to try it with different dishes.  My mind was racing.  I knew then that this sauce is good with anything.  It’s a keeper.  It made  my list of “favorite recipes”.

I tried it as a dip, dressing, and coating for crusted salmon and tilapia.  It was even tasty with beef and chicken, especially using it as a barbecue sauce.  Remember the famous Satay sauce?  I can proudly say that this sauce is the best replacement.  It blows satay sauce out of the water.  But of course, people who have come to love satay sauce will completely disagree, but I dare them to make and try this sauce.  I call it the perfect, ultimate sauce.  You grill the chicken over a charcoal grill and slather it with this sauce  and you are in for a treat.  Oh, Shanna Ward, thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!  It got me from first taste.  I am hooked.  The sauce is robust and the ingredients work amazingly well together .  I can’t get enough of this sauce.  That’s why I said Part 1 is because I will show you just how versatile this sauce is.

Readers and followers, you should visit her blog and browse through it. You might stumble upon a recipe you can’t leave the site without like I did.  I was planning to cook chicken for dinner and it was a good reason to try the sauce.  And I’m glad I did because I was able to modify it using tahini because of my children’s allergy to peanut.  I was so happy  I didn’t have to cook three different meals for last night’s dinner.

TAHINI SAUCE  

(Note:  You can make this ahead of time and place in the refrigerator until ready to use)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup tahini
• 2 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
•  1/8 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1/8 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• zest of whole lemon
• zest of whole lime
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon ginger, chopped
• three dashes of ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika (only add if you are using this recipe as a barbecue sauce)

Note:  If you are using peanut butter instead of Tahini, click here.

Preparation Methods:

• Combine all the ingredients in a food processor.  Process for 5 minutes; set aside.  Make the chicken cutlet.

FOR THE CHICKEN CUTLET

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

• 6 pieces of organic chicken thighs (or chicken breast. See note below)
• 3 eggs, scrambled or 1 cup of buttermilk (I used the buttermilk for obvious reason)
• 1 cup Japanese Panko crumbs
• 1 cup Parmesan and Romano croutons or croutons of your choice, pounded into fine crumbs
• ground black pepper

Preparation Methods:

• Spray a 9.5 inch x 13.5 glass baking dish with grilling spray; set aside.
• Combine Panko crumbs and the Romano and Parmesan crumbs in a medium bowl.  Mix to combine; set aside.
• Place the scrambled eggs or buttermilk in a 2 inch deep dish; set aside.
• Wash the chicken and pat dry.  Season with ground black pepper.
• Dip in scrambled eggs or buttermilk then to the panko mixture.  Or you can lightly coat the chicken with the Tahini sauce then dip in Panko crumb mixture.  This will make the chicken moist. Place in the prepared baking dish.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes depending on your oven.  Do not open the oven while baking as heat will escape and requires more time to cook the chicken.  Only check when it’s closer to 30 minutes cooking time if you must.
• Serve with your favorite salad, pasta, couscous recipe, quinoa, and fried or steamed white or brown rice. Top with the Tahini sauce and more to the side as desired.

Note:  If you are using chicken breast, pound the chicken with mallet first before dipping it in the egg or buttermilk mixture.   Make the necessary adjustment to cooking time since chicken breast takes longer to cook than thighs.  Also, cooking time varies depending on your oven.

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Have a fabulous day everyone!   May you have a romantic evening since it’s Valentines Day!

~Anna B.

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