If you’ve watched season 3 of Queer Eye (the re-vamped Netflix version of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) then you know where the inspiration for this dish comes from. If you haven’t watched it, and you like watching people get their houses, wardrobes, and lives given new life by five gay men, then you should get watching now!

As a way to get healthier, child-friendly recipes into a family home in one of the episodes, Antoni shows a single father how to make macadamia-crusted mahi mahi fish fingers.

Well, I have no children, but that doesn’t meant that sometimes I appreciate child-friendly food. I mean, have you seen my blog? Comfort food, desserts and all things delicious and yummy. Definitely just a big kid.

It’s not the cheapest way to create crusted chicken or fish, of course, but is it delicious and carb-free (if that’s your thing). I shallow fried my chicken tenders, but you can absolutely bake them at 200°C for twenty minutes. Just as a word of warning, coating each chicken piece entirely can be quite tricky as more mixture gets stuck to your fingers than the chicken. Don’t worry to much, as long as most of the chicken is coated it’ll be fine.

Ingredients

400 grams chicken breast, sliced into tenders
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon water
150 grams macadamia nuts
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 tablespoons almond flour

1. Pat the chicken dry. Season with salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder. Set aside.
2. In a food processor, blitz the macadamia nuts and smoked paprika until the nuts resemble large breadcrumbs. Place the crushed nuts into a bowl. Combine the almond flour with the macadamia mixture.
3. In another bowl, combine the eggs and water. Set chicken, eggs and macadamia nuts out in a line.
4. Take each piece of chicken, soak it in the egg mixture, and then place in the nut mixture and ensure to fully coat the chicken. Set aside on a plate and continue with all pieces of chicken.
5. Over a medium heat, pour two tablespoons of oil into a flat-based frying pan. Once hot, place the chicken strips into the pan and cook on each side for 5 – 6 minutes (depending on the thickness of your chicken strips).
6. Once cooked through, remove from the pan and serve with veggies and homemade potato wedges.