Stuffed chicken breast with pineapple sauce the Salt n' Pepper way!

The great blend of beautiful memories and the divine taste makes this recipe so special. Devour away!

Stuffed chicken breast with pineapple sauce is a dish served at Salt n’ Pepper (SNP) in Lahore. It brings back a lot of fond memories from my postgraduate days. I associate this phenomenal recipe with some of the happiest times in my life. 

I happened to visit Lahore a few months ago and luckily, SNP was just around the corner from where I was staying. Needless to say, this restaurant was my first stop after a long and tiring day of travel. As I took my seat, I couldn’t help but reminisce all the good times I had had with my friends. The table where we had sat at on numerous occasions was empty, but I could clearly picture all my friends sitting around it as if it were only yesterday.



Try as I might, I couldn’t shake off the nostalgia even after my return to Karachi, so I coaxed my wife into attempting to make this stuffed chicken at home. What can I say? A craving’s a craving.

So what makes this recipe so special?



Well, for starters, the pineapple sauce on top is divine. Moreover, the crispy deep-fried chicken breast with stuffed-cheese that just oozes out as soon as you slice it open is a definite winner. I’m not a big fan of the pureed spinach on the side, but the fries and the coleslaw take the dish to an entirely new level. Most of all, it’s the surprisingly refreshing sweet-tangy taste that blows your mind. This is a combination that you never-in-a-million-years thought would work with chicken, but it somehow does.



This one goes out to all my friends who live in and around Lahore.





Let me dive straight into the recipe, but before I do, I’d just like to mention that I did spice things up a bit by adding some chili components to the chicken. So if you’d like to stick to the original recipe, you can leave the optional ingredients out of the recipe.

Ingredients

For chicken breasts

• 2 chicken breasts complete with wings (do not de-bone it)


• 2 tbsp mozzarella cheese


• 2 tbsp cheddar cheese


• A pinch of oregano


• ¼ tsp + ¼ tsp black pepper


• 1 tbsp chili sauce (optional)


• 1 tbsp soy sauce


• ½ tsp mustard sauce


• ½ tsp MSG (ajinomoto or Chinese salt)


• ¼ cup all-purpose flour


• ¼ cup corn flour


• ½ tsp chili flakes or paprika for a milder flavor (optional)


• Salt to taste


• Oil for deep frying

For pineapple sauce

• 1 can of diced pineapples (Del Monte works best)


• ¾ tsp corn flour


• ½ cup water


• 8-10 carrot shavings (thinly-sliced squares)


• 8-10 cucumber shavings (thinly-sliced squares)


• ½ tbsp corn (optional)


• 1 stalk of spring onion (finely chopped)


• A pinch of black pepper


• A pinch of salt


• 1 tsp honey

Sidelines

• French fries


• Coleslaw


• Pureed spinach seasoned with some salt and pepper

Method

For chicken breasts

1. Clean and wash the chicken breasts; add ¼ tsp black pepper, chilli sauce, soy sauce, mustard sauce, some salt and MSG and marinate it for six-eight hours


2. Mix the cheddar and mozzarella cheeses with the oregano and set aside


3. Take each breast and make a small slit along the plastic bone (see drawing – stop judging me, people; I got my point across, didn’t I?)


4. Carefully stuff in the cheese mixture into the chicken cavity and press it all the way in so that it doesn’t run back out during deep-frying


5. In another bowl, mix in the all-purpose flour, corn flour, ¼ tsp black pepper, chilli flakes (or paprika), and some salt to make the dry batter


6. Deep fry the chicken pieces in oil on medium-high heat till they are nicely crisp and golden; using a deep fryer here yields better results; set aside after frying

For the pineapple sauce

1. Boil the carrot shavings as well as the corn to tenderise them


2. Take a saucepan and add in all the liquid content of the pineapple can to it; let it simmer on a low-medium flame


3. In a bowl, take the corn flour and water and mix it well


4. Slowly add in the corn flour mixture to the pan, stirring it all the while to avoid lumps


5. Cook it for a few minutes until the sauce thickens and the whiteness of the corn flour vanishes completely


6. Add in the black pepper, salt and honey


7. Add in eight to ten chunks of crushed pineapple to the sauce


8. Let it cook for three minutes and then add in the carrots, corn and thinly-sliced spring onion


9. Add in the cucumbers last and take it off the flame immediately


10. In a plate, take one of the chicken breasts, top it off with a generous serving of the pineapple sauce and serve immediately with French fries, coleslaw and spinach puree.

And voila, devour away!

Bon appétit.

This post was originally published here.

Read more by Yousuf here, or follow him on Twitter @YousufBawany