Methi chicken Kyiv
This is Sabrina Gidda's take on the classic chicken Kyiv. As she explains below, it's a synthesis of two of her favourite dishes: chicken Kyiv and methi chicken. It's a delicious, buttery dish that is full of nostalgia and sure to be a hit. The compound butter takes a few hours to set up though, so be sure to make it in advance.
This recipe is taken from Modern South Asian Kitchen by Sabrina Gidda (Quadrille, £27) Photography: Maria Bell
Sabrina says: 'Many of the dishes that we ate as children almost immediately became firm favourites and quite often they remain so as adults. There are two dishes that I particularly adored as a child: one was a garlic butter Kyiv and the other was my mum’s garlic methi chicken. I don’t think we need to take too much time explaining why these two dishes can happily collaborate to create a garlic methi Kyiv. You can use fresh fenugreek but I particularly love the flavour of dried kasoori methi. If you want to have all of the flavour but don’t have the patience for the process, then butterfly a chicken breast, flour, egg and breadcrumb it, and serve a slice of melting butter over it as a sort of Milanese schnitzel. Or, if you don’t eat chicken, you can make the butter and melt it into jacket potatoes, over fish, paneer or other vegetables.'
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
- 2 skinless chicken breasts
- 6 tbsp of plain flour
- 2 eggs, beaten with a splash of milk
- 300g of Panko breadcrumbs
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- vegetable oil, for frying
Butter
- 150g of salted butter, at room temperature
- 1 tsp Kasoori methi
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic paste
- 2 tsp coriander stalks, chopped
- 1 pinch of freshly ground black pepper
- lemon zest, from 1/2 an unwaxed lemon
- 1/2 tsp green chilli paste
Method
First, make the butter. Simply mash everything together and mix well. Lay a piece of cling film on your work surface. Spoon out the butter on to it to form a short line, then fold the cling film over it. Using the cling film to help you, roll the butter into a sausage shape about 1–1.5cm in width.
- 150g of salted butter, at room temperature
- 1 tsp Kasoori methi
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic paste
- 2 tsp coriander stalks, chopped
- 1 pinch of freshly ground black pepper
- lemon zest, from 1/2 an unwaxed lemon
- 1/2 tsp green chilli paste
Seal the ends of the sausage shape and put in the fridge for a few hours or overnight so the butter sets firm – this makes it far easier to stuff the chicken
Insert the blade of a thin knife into the bigger end of each chicken breast to make a pocket in the middle: you don’t want to pierce the skin otherwise your butter will ooze out. Remove the cling film from the butter and slice off about a 5cm piece. Insert into the pocket in the breast, then bring the meat together to ensure it remains closed. (You can also use 1 teaspoon of cornflour mixed with ½ teaspoon of water to create a little seal, if needed.)
Dip the chicken breasts first in seasoned flour, then in seasoned egg and finally coat in the breadcrumbs. Put them back in the fridge until you are ready to cook
- 6 tbsp of plain flour
- 2 eggs, beaten with a splash of milk
- 300g of Panko breadcrumbs
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/400°F/gas mark 4. Pour enough vegetable oil to fill a deep frying pan or saucepan by a third. Heat the oil and check the temperature by dropping in a little cube of bread: it should sizzle and turn a light golden colour.
- vegetable oil, for frying
Very carefully lay your chicken in the oil, one at a time if there is no space for both. Turn occasionally to ensure they fry and colour evenly. Remove and drain them on paper towels and then pop them into the oven for 15 minutes. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving
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