What Would a Chef Do With Our Chicken? Panko Edition.

Those outside of ‘The North’ may not have heard the name ‘Mr Pristina’, but he’s almost inescapable, especially within Leeds.

Household names such as The Beck & Call, Belgrave Music Hall, Headrow House and Ox Club… Ben had a hand in all their offerings.

More recently Meatless Farm tasked him with spearheading the ‘taste and texture’ of their vegan products.

House of Fu? The growing name in Ramen, with restaurants in Manchester and Leeds? That’s him.

When joining Meatless Farm Ben said “My experience has a focus on creating sustainable dishes and championing ethical food’.

Who better show us what can be done with our Chicken Bites?

Panko Breaded Chicken Bites served with Jalapeno and cheddar waffles, pickled watermelon, and sriracha maple butter.

Prep time 15mins

Cook time 10mins

We used a standard ‘stove top’ waffle iron, however, any waffle maker will do the trick. You could also prepare your waffle mix as pancakes.

Makes 10 waffles (serves 3 – 4)

For the waffles:
• 250g self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 30g caster sugar
• 250ml milk
• 3 eggs
• 100g butter (melted)
• Pinch of sea salt
• 8 jalapeños chopped
• 50g grated cheddar
• 20g chopped coriander

Want extra protein? Add 1 tbsp protein powder

Mix the dry ingredients together (flour, baking powder, salt, sugar) in a bowl. In a separate jug mix the milk and eggs.

Add the milk mixture to the dry mix. Stir gently until combined, then mix through the melted butter and finally fold in the cheddar, jalapeños and coriander.

Heat your waffle iron or waffle maker, and ladle the waffle batter into the waffle maker (always slightly underfill to avoid too much leaky mess). Cook until golden on both sides.

For the quick pickled watermelon
• 1/2 Watermelon
• 100g Rice vinegar or cider vinegar
• 50g Caster Sugar or soft brown sugar
• 10g ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

Cut the watermelon into 2cm cubes.

For the pickling liquor….Mix the vinegar and sugar. Place in a pan and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the ginger, and remove from the heat until fully cooked.

Pour the vinegar mix over the watermelon. Place in a clean jar/container, cover and refrigerate overnight (or you can use it straight away).

For the sriracha, maple butter
• 2 tbsp sriracha
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 50g butter

Place everything in a pan, and heat until the butter is melted. Mix well and set aside.

To finish: Cook 100g of Panko Breaded Chicken per person. When preparing for more than one person, we recommend oven baking for that perfect crisp; 15 minutes at 180 degrees – until golden brown.

Arrange the waffles on a plate, pile on the chicken, scatter over the watermelon, and drizzle on your sriracha maple butter. Tear over some fresh basil leaves for a hit of herby freshness.

Ben also crafted a wonderfully tasty Pole Bowl our Salt & Pepper Chicken Bites, a recipe which definitely involves minimal cooking.

Find it here.