Sweet Coconut Chicken Strips for Rosh Hashanah

Welcome to the first ever Jewish Holiday Blog Party, hosted by Jessie of Taste and Miriam of Overtime Cook, and sponsored by Kitchen Aid! As you may know, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year is coming up, and Jewish bloggers from all over the world are celebrating with all kinds of twists on traditional Rosh Hashanah foods.

To kick off the celebration, Levana Kirschenbaum is giving away a copy of her fabulous new book, The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen to three lucky winners. To enter, leave a comment on this post. Limit one entry per reader per blog so click over to the other participating blogs below for your chance at additional entries! Giveaway ends 5 am eastern time on September 11th, 2012.

Prize is sponsored by Levana and available to readers from all blogs participating in the Rosh Hashanah Blog Party. Prize can only be shipped within the US.

When I was thinking of a dish to prepare and write about for the blogger party, my first thought was the Pineapple Challah Kugel recipe that is a staple at our High Holiday’s table. The recipe is in Susie Fishbein’s Kosher By Design Entertains cookbook on page 228.

But while the recipe says “it’s pretty,” mine never turns out all that pretty. In fact, it’s somewhat unattractive. But once people take that first bite, they are hooked. I’ve even given this cookbook as a gift to a bride because her husband loved this dish so much. So, if you are looking for a sweet, filling side dish … or it can even be served as a dessert … the Pineapple Challah Kugle can’t be beat.

But I thought I’d try something new this year so I spent several hours looking through my stacks of cookbooks and decided upon a new recipe to try … and no one in my household was disappointed. My inlaws even happened to stop by the night of the test, which was also my birthday, so we made a little dinner party out of it. Everyone was in love with this yummy dish that reminds me of a Pina Colada.

The Coconut Chicken strips with Two Dipping Sauces (apricot and mango) recipe is in the same Kosher By Design Entertains cookbook on page 34 and it is out-of-this-world. I was thrilled to find the recipe online at Jamie Geller’s Joy of Kosher web site as well.

So without further ado, here is the recipe for one of the dishes I will definitely be serving at my Rosh Hashanah table. And I’ll warn you that it’s way too filling to simply be an appetizer, unless the meal that follows is very light, but it’s a fun way to welcome in a sweet New Year:

Ingredients

Chicken Strips
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt
freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup panko or corn flake crumbs (I did not have either panko or corn flakes so I crushed up Kellogg’s Rice Krispies in a zip-lock bag instead. It was a yummy substitute)
1 cup sweetened, flaked coconut
honey

Mango Sauce

1 fresh mango
1/4 cup soy milk (I used 365 Organic SoyMilk)
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 teaspoons honey mustard
3 tablespoons chopped hazelnuts (I didn’t have hazelnuts and couldn’t find them at the store so I left-out this ingredient)

Apricot Sauce

6 ounces apricot preserves
2 teaspoons yellow mustard (not Dijon)
2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚ F.

2. Remove the tenders from the chicken. Cut each breast into long 1⁄2-inch thin strips, trimming the ends to make rectangle shapes. Trim the tenders as well. Season the strips with salt and pepper.

3. Place the flour into a shallow dish. Add some salt and pepper to the flour. Add the garlic powder and cayenne. Toss to combine. Place the beaten egg into a second shallow dish. Mix the panko or corn flake (or Rice Krispies) crumbs and coconut in a third dish.

4. Lightly coat the chicken strips with flour, shaking off excess. Dip each strip into the egg, shaking off excess. Roll into coconut mixture, pressing the coconut into the chicken to evenly coat.

5. Place the coated strips on a baking sheet. Lightly drizzle with honey. Bake 20 minutes, turning the strips halfway through.

I added an extra step here. At the end of the oven time, my chicken strips still looked a bit “tan” so I broiled them on high for about 2-3 minutes. It browned the coconut nicely and my Father-in-law thought I had fried them.

6. Meanwhile prepare the sauces. Place the mango into a blender or the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Purée. Add the soy milk, wine, and mustard. Pulse 2-3 times. Set aside.

7. Combine apricot preserves, yellow mustard, and teriyaki sauce. Stir to combine.

8. To serve place 3-4 chicken strips on each plate with two small bowls, one with the mango sauce and the other with the apricot sauce. (I actually placed each chicken strip on a wooden skewer to make it easier to eat but everyone ended up taking them off the skewers anyway so while it’s pretty, it’s probably not very practical.)

Just a few “tester” notes, the folks at my dinner party, LOVED the apricot sauce but were not so thrilled with the Mango sauce. It wasn’t bad but it just wasn’t as sweet as the apricot sauce.

I also made 1/2 of the batch “plain” without the coconut since my hubbie doesn’t like coconut. Even the plain batch was awesome so keep that in mind if you have folks attending your Rosh Hashana party who are not fans of the pina colada flavor.

This is the first of hopefully many exciting Holiday Blog Parties, so if you would like to join in the fun, please email holidayblogparties@gmail.com.

Stop by and check out some of these amazing Rosh Hashanah themed recipes on the following blogs:

Challah and Bread:

Marlene of The Jewish Hostess made Apple Challah
Amanda of The Challah Blog made Pomegranate Challah
Shelly of The Kosher Home made Apple, Honey and Pomegranate Challah!

Sides, Salads and Starters:

Sarah of Food, Words, Photos made Tzimmes (Rosh Hashanah Carrots)
Tali of More Quiche, Please made Roasted Beets and Butternut Squash
Roberta and Lois of Kosher Eye made Simanim Salad
Chanie of Busy In Brooklyn made Pomegranate Coleslaw
Rivki of Life in the Married Lane made Super Salad
Hannah of Cooking Manager made Beets Marinated with Ginger and Garlic
Sina of The Kosher Spoon made Pomegranate, Almond and Raisin Couscous
Hindy of Confident Cook-Hesitant Baker made Warm Roasted Beets with Farro
Sarah of Kosher Street made Sweet Potato Apple Tzimmes