Dukkah-crusted Chicken Tenders with Red Lentil and Broccoli Salad

Oven-baked chicken tenders, adapted from Taste, spiced up with a crunchy Middle Eastern spice blend of toasted, coarsely ground hazelnuts, sesame, and spices. You can serve them with a sweet-sour sauce of honey and balsamic vinegar or on a bed of salad of choice.

Originally from Egypt, dukkah is a mixture of nuts (hazelnuts, almonds or pistachios), seeds and spices. The traditional way to serve fragrant Dukkah is with olive oil and bread – dunk the bread in olive oil, then the dukkah. You can also use for a crust on lamb or fish.

Salad	Hazelnut Dukkah
200 g Red lentils 1 head Broccoli, trimmed, cut into florets 1 Small red onion, cut into rings 100 g Grape tomatoes, halved Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 8 / 350 g Chicken tenders 2 tbsp Olive oil 2 tbsp Honey 1 tbsp Red wine vinegar	11/2 tsp Coriander seeds 2 tsp Cumin seeds 1 tsp Black peppercorns 2 tsp Sea salt 160 g Hazelnuts, toasted 35 g Sesame seeds, toasted 1/2 tsp Ground ginger 1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon 2 tsp Ground turmeric

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Spread the hazelnuts over a baking tray and cook in preheated oven for 3-4 minutes or until toasted. Rub the hazelnuts between a clean tea towel to remove as much skin as possible. Place the toasted hazelnuts in the bowl of a food processor and process until coarsely chopped. Transfer to a large bowl.
Heat a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add the sesame seeds and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes or until golden. Add to the bowl with the hazelnuts.
Place coriander, cumin seeds and black peppercorns in a dry frying pan over medium heat, and cook, stirring frequently, for 1-2 minutes or until aromatic and seeds begin to pop. Transfer seeds to a mortar and pestle with sea salt. Pound until finely crushed. Add the crushed spices to the hazelnut mixture and mix well.
Place chicken tenders on a plate. Coat both sides with hazelnut dukkah. Place them on a baking pan. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Bake at 190C/375F for 18-20 minutes or until golden and cooked through.
Place the lentils in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Set the saucepan over medium-high heat, bring to a boil and cook until they are just barely tender and still quite red, about 2 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water to halt the cooking process. Shake out all excess water, and then put the red lentils into a large bowl.
Cook the broccoli in a large saucepan of boiling water for 3-4 minutes or until bright green and tender crisp. Refresh under cold running water. Drain and add to the lentils in the bowl.
Whisk together the honey, red wine vinegar and the remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add the dressing, red onion and grape tomatoes to the lentils and broccoli. Toss to combine. Transfer salad to the serving plates and top with dukkah coated chicken tenders.

Apt3D

Dukkah-crusted Chicken Tenders with Red Lentil and Broccoli Salad