Twice Cooked Chicken

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup self rising flour
2/3 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp. butter, melted
salt, pepper & seasonings to taste
Oil for deep-frying

Cut chicken breasts into 1/2" thick strips.  Place chicken in a medium size pot.  Cover with water and boil about 10-15 minutes or until completely cooked.  Stir a few times to cook all pieces.  Drain.  Place on paper towels to cool and dry.  In a medium size bowl mix egg, milk and melted butter.  Stir in half of the flour.  Add more as needed until mixture the thickness of gravy.  Mix in salt, pepper & seasonings to taste.  Heat oil to 380 degrees.  Dip cooled, dry chicken into batter and drop into hot oil.  Don't allow pieces to touch.  Turn as the sides brown.  Each chicken breast will yield about 6 pieces depending upon their size.

Martha:  I found a version of this recipe in an old cookbook.  It called for a whole chicken cut up, boiling the chicken with parsley, celery and onion.  I made the change to use boneless, skinless chicken breasts which I sliced into strips.  I added my salt and pepper to the batter and also added some no salt seasoning mix that had garlic, onion, etc.  The frying time is quick which keeps the chicken from picking up that much of the oil.  The seasoning added to the batter flavored the chicken with each bite.  Now for a trick I came up with (I'm sure someone else has already done this).  I speared my chicken pieces with a skewer and used it to hold the chicken as I dipped it into the batter and then into the hot oil.  I used a fork to lightly push it off the skewer.  This also allowed me to hold the chicken in the hot oil for a few seconds so it could start browning and not stick to the bottom of the pan.  This with some honey mustard and you have good food!

Tips:  Many recipes call for chicken broth, beef broth, or vegetable broth.  If you’re fresh out of canned broth, you can use bouillon granules or cubes as an easy substitute.  Just remember that 1 can of canned broth is equivalent to 1 tsp. of granulated or 1 cube dissolved in 1 cup of water.