Homemade Crispy Chicken Steak

Finally! I'm able to finish this chicken steak recipe. I've been pretty busy lately with a lot of thing. About 2 weeks ago, I made crispy chicken steak for dinner. Actually, my first plan was to make chicken katsu. But i saw that i still have some buttermilk and a lot of potatoes that needed to be used as soon as possible. One of the potato started to grow a sprout. So I was thinking maybe i should change the menu. Maybe western menu is not a bad idea. I think chicken steak served with potatoes and vegetables would be good. Hmm... I still had few packs of salty crackers as well. It could be used to make crispy steak. So, crispy chicken steak it is. 

It is easy to make. The buttermilk increased the taste of the chicken and make the color of the chicken more brown that fried chicken without buttermilk. Even soaking the chicken overnight in spiced buttermilk can help to tenderize the meat (hmm... this can be a good topic for my writing). I'm using crackers crumb for the final coating instead of bread crumbs or flavored flour. Crackers crumbs can increase the crispiness and the taste of the chicken steak and make it so good. Just get 1 pack of salty crackers (not chips or cookies or biscuit), put it in a sealed plastic wrap, and smash it with rolling pin or pestle until it become into coarse crumbs.

This crispy chicken is good to be served with black pepper sauce, or onion sauce, or barbecue sauce. But now, i choose onion sauce for the gravy. Just simply because i like saute onion.

Ingredients :

• 500 grams boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1/2 tsp paprika powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder 
• Salt and black pepper
• 125 grams (1 cup) flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 240 ml (1 cup) buttermilk
• 1 tbs tabasco
• 1 cup vegetable oil (or enough to fry about 1/2 of the height of chicken slices.)
• 1 pack (40 grams) salty crackers, such as graham crackers, put it in plastic bag and crush it until you get the crumbs.
  
• parchment paper or plastic wrap

Tip : If you do not have or can not find buttermilk, you can always make your own buttermilk. Well... actually this is a substitution of buttermilk. But it will work well. Mix 1 cup (240 ml) milk with 1 tbs lemon juice or lime juice. Stir it lightly and let sit in a room temperature for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, you can see that the milk is become thickened and a bit curdled.

For the gravy :

• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tbs butter
• 2 tbs flour
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cube chicken bouillon
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp soysauce
• salt and pepper

Preparation :

First, let's make the steak :

1. Cut the chicken into 4 wide slices with about 1.5 - 2 cm thickness for each slice.
   
   
   
   
2. Put the chicken slices on the parchment paper/plastic wrap.
3. Rub the surface of the chicken with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder generously.
4. Cover it with another parchment paper or plastic wrap and pound them gently using a rolling pin or meat mallet. Set aside.
5. Meanwhile, in a shallow bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside
6. In another bowl, mix buttermilk and tabasco. Set aside.
7. In another shallow bowl, pour crumbs from the crackers. Take about 3 tbs flour mixture and mix it with crackers crumbs. 
8. In a pan/skillet, heat the vegetable oil.
9. Take 1 slice of chicken, dip it into flour mixture and make sure to cover all the surface with the flour.
10. Dip the same chicken slice in buttermilk mixture.
11. Dip it again into crackers crumbs mixture and coat it well. 
12. Put the chicken into the preheated oil, and fry it until the bottom side become golden brown. Be careful not to burn the chicken during the process. Buttermilk make the outer surface of the chicken become brown faster than fried chicken without buttermilk. So make sure the chicken is cooked well and evenly.
13. Flip it over and fry the other side. 
14. Drain the chicken from the oil, and remove the excess oil using kitchen paper.
15. Serve it with the sauce.

While frying the chicken,  let's make the onion sauce :

1. In the sauce pan, add 2 tbs butter.
2. Add sliced onion. Saute the onion until brown and translucent.
3. Add flour. Stir them well.
4. Add water and bouillon cube. Stir well until the sauce start to boiled.
5. Add sugar, soy sauce, salt and pepper.
6. Continue to stir on medium-low heat until the sauce is thickened. 
7. Turn off the heat and ready to serve