Frying Without Wheat Flour

Since Kitty and Zak can no longer have any wheat products, I have had to learn some new tricks in the kitchen. My first attempt at home-made, fried chicken tenders turned out pretty good, if I must say so myself. I used a mixture of 2/5 rice flour, 2/5 potato flour and 1/5 chia seed flour (yes, the stuff that makes hair grow on a Chia Pet can be made into flour) as my dry mix. I used a typical dry/wet/dry battering technique and fried the chicken in a black-iron skillet with 350 degree canola oil. The texture of the batter was very crisp and almost like corn meal. As a matter of fact, Kitty asked me if I had used yellow or white corn meal in the recipe. The chicken got devoured before I could get a pretty "plated" shot of it, so here is how it looked on the cooling rack, right out of the skillet. I served it with basmati rice and Hot Pepper Jezebel Sauce.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom
Hot Pepper Jezebel Sauce

1 16 oz. jar hot pepper jelly*

1 16 oz. jar apple jelly

½ cup horseradish

1 Tbsp. dry mustard

2 Tbsp. Creole Mustard

2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

2 Tbsp. honey

Mix all ingredients with a hand or stand mixer until fully blended. Store sauce in a glass jar in refrigerator.

*Tabasco makes a good commercial hot pepper jelly.

Gluten-free Fried Chicken Tenders

2 Tbsp. Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning

2 lbs. boneless chicken breast tenders

½ cup potato flour

½ cup rice flour

¼ cup chia seed flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

1 tsp. dried tarragon

3 large eggs

¼ cup buttermilk

Prep

In a large mixing bowl, combine all flours, salt, pepper and tarragon. Mix thoroughly. Combine buttermilk and eggs and whip until frothy and completely blended. Pat dry and liberally season chicken tenders with Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees.

Cook

Individually dredge the chicken tenders in flour, then in the egg mixture and again in the flour and set aside on a dry plate or a sheet pan covered in parchment paper. This is known as a dry/wet/dry battering technique.

Heat about 1”-1 ½” inches of canola oil in a heavy black iron skillet until the oil reaches 350 degrees. You may also use a countertop deep fryer set to 350 degrees. Cook six or so tenders at a time, making sure not to crowd the pan. Cooke until golden brown on both sides and until the chicken is completely done in the center. Be careful not to overcook the chicken. I generally cook two tenders at first to gauge the cooking time and then repeat the proper results. As each batch comes out of the grease, place them on a rack, over a roasting pan in the oven to stay warm until all of the tenders are done.

Plate

Serve with Hot Pepper Jezebel Sauce.

(Serves 6)