Elizabeth Marsden

This great recipe solves two problems with chicken – it stays moist however much you overcook it, so no salmonella, and it makes it stretch really far – so no breaking the bank! The added bonus (for me) is that it can be made Gluten Free too.

Recipe costs about 60p per person for Gluten Free, even cheaper if not

Method

Take your chicken breast and cut it into thin slices – about ½ cm thick. Crush your crackers / Ryvita / oatcakes (or a combination of these) either by putting them in a strong plastic food bag and using a rolling pin, your hand, your feet…. whatever, or by putting them in a blender or by using a mortar and pestle. They need to be in really fine pieces. Put the cracker crumbs in a large bowl and stir in the paprika, 1 tbsp oil, herbs, cumin and add a few pinches of salt and a few twists of freshly ground pepper.

Now you need to set up three bowls in a row. You have your third bowl already – the one with crumbs in, now you need one containing water and one containing flour. Dip each chicken piece in the flour, then the water, then the crumbs. The flour and water create a glue to stick the crumbs to the chicken.

The chicken is best cooked in a griddle pan (looks like a square pan with ridges down the middle) or on something like a George Foreman grill, this stops them absorbing too much oil, but a frying pan will do – however you may have to drain them on paper towels after cooking. Cook the chicken pieces on your chosen weapon at a moderate high for anything over about 6 minutes, turn the heat down if the crumbs are burning. Cut the fattest one in half to check if it’s done – if it is, the others will be too.

Serve with dips as a starter, or on a salad or with chips and veg for a main course.