Servings: 4

Cooking Time: xx

 

Ingredients:

125 g/1¼ cups ground almonds

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon dried parsley

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

450 g/1 lb. mini chicken fillets

1 egg, beaten

oil, for spraying/drizzling

coriander/cilantro leaves, to serve

 KATSU SAUCE

1 teaspoon olive oil or avocado oil

1 courgette/zucchini (approx. 150 g/5 oz.), finely chopped

1 carrot (approx. 100 g/3½ oz.), finely chopped

1 onion (approx. 120 g/4½ oz.), finely chopped

1 eating apple (approx. 150 g/5 oz.), cored and finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1½ teaspoons mild chilli/chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1½ tablespoons runny honey

1 tablespoon soy sauce (gluten-free if you wish)

700 ml/3 cups vegetable stock (700 ml/3 cups water with 1½ stock cubes)

 

Directions:

First make the sauce. The easiest way to ensure all the vegetables and apple are finely chopped is to combine them in a food processor. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the finely chopped vegetables and apple for 5 minutes. Add all the seasonings, honey, soy sauce and stock and stir well, then bring to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together the ground almonds, seasonings and spices. Dip each chicken fillet into the beaten egg, then into the almond-spice mix, making sure each fillet is fully coated. Spray the coated chicken fillets with olive oil (or simply drizzle over).

Preheat the air-fryer to 180ºC/350ºF.

Place the chicken fillets in the preheated air-fryer and air-fry for 10 minutes, turning halfway through cooking. Check the internal temperature of the chicken has reached at least 74ºC/165ºF using a meat thermometer – if not, cook for another few minutes.

Blend the cooked sauce in a food processor until smooth. Serve the chicken with the Katsu Sauce drizzled over (if necessary, reheat the sauce gently before serving) and scattered with coriander leaves. Any unused sauce can be frozen.