DFC - Dale Fried Chicken

My go-to food late at night has always been breaded chicken tenders. Lately, I've been developing this strange habit of either eating or seeing a food and wanting to make it for myself. These two factoids collided over the weekend with me eating a very substandard chicken sandwich in Shadyside at Cappy's and then watching a soul food diner segment on Diners, Drive-In's, and Dives.

So on Tuesday night I decided it was time to make my own Fried Chicken Tenders.

1/2 lb chicken tenderloins
All purpose flour
Luzienne's Cajun Seasoning (cayenne, paprika, salt, pepper, garlic)
Panko bread crumbs
1 egg

You could use a chicken breast, but you probably want to slice it into strips for easier frying later in the recipe.

First I added some Cajun seasoning to the flour in my shallow wide dish until the flour went just off-color. Very scientific, I know. Then I rolled the chicken tenderloins around in the egg and dredged them in the seasoned flour.

I then ran them through the egg a second time and dredged then in the Panko bread crumbs. Panko bread crumbs are a lighter bread crumb used in Asian cuisine, especially during tempura frying.

After the chickens were breaded, I poured some vegetable oil into a skillet and made it about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep in oil. I heated the oil to medium-high heat until it just started to ripple under the surface. I added the breaded chicken to the hot oil and fried them on each side for about 2-3 minutes until golden brown.

I put the chicken in a dish with some paper towels to take off the excess oil and lightly salted and peppered them. I served this with a yellow rice and some boiled sugar peas. The chicken was crunchy on the outside and moist inside, probably because of the double breading.

I miss the classic Damon's chicken tender meal with honey mustard. I can't believe Damon's screwed up that franchise as badly as they did. When I used to be a real night owl, especially after a good night of drinking, some breaded chicken tenders always hit the spot...no matter what shanty restaurant we ended up at.