Chick­en Tonkatsu

Chick­en Tonkat­su with Mus­tard, Cin­na­mon and Cornflakes

(serves four)

4 chick­en breast fillets

1/2 cup 180g Dijon mustard

1 egg

2 cloves gar­lic, grated

1/2 tbsp ground cin­na­mon (fresh ground if you have one of those cool grinders)

fresh black pepper

3 cups/180g crushed cornflakes

1 tbsp sweet paprika

6 tbsps olive oil

Mus­tard and cin­na­mon!  It’s not unheard of in the world of cook­ing, but it’s not every day you see it, either.  Adding the slight sweet­ness of your aver­age corn­flakes real­ly sent my taste expec­ta­tions reel­ing, but trust me.  This is a won­der­ful set of fla­vor sensations.

Trim the chick­en breasts com­plete­ly of fat and sinew.  One at a time, place them on a cut­ting board, cov­er them with plas­tic wrap, and with a mal­let or rolling pin or any­thing heavy, flat­ten them to about 150% of their nor­mal size.  Set aside.

In a large, shal­low dish, mix the mus­tard, egg, gar­lic, cin­na­mon and pep­per well.  Dip the chick­en breasts into the mix­ture and mas­sage it in well, turn­ing over to coat both sides completely.

Place corn­flakes in a large shal­low dish and scrunch them with your hands until they are the tex­ture you like — not a fine pow­der, but fair­ly fine crumbs.  Add the papri­ka and mix well.  One by one, mash the chick­en breasts into the corn­flake mix­ture, turn­ing over and over until com­plete­ly coat­ed, with a plat­ter wait­ing to receive them all as they emerge.

Heat the oil in a heavy-bot­tomed fry­ing pan (non­stick works very well, but isn’t nec­es­sary).  Fry the chick­en on one side until crisp and browned, about 2–3 min­utes depend­ing on thick­ness, then turn and cook on sec­ond side.  You may find it help­ful to use two spat­u­las at once to turn the fil­lets.  Drain on a wire rack just briefly before serv­ing, or if you are lucky enough to have “tonkat­su” racks, use those.  Your guests may then remove the fil­lets off the racks and onto their plates before eating.