This is our second (and let’s be honest the cauli mash is the third, more on that later) recipe featuring our new favorite nut: Pili Hunters Pili Nuts! Buttery, dreamy, satisfying, addicting….so many things to say about these beauties! We wanted to give them a whirl in a main dish and wow, this chicken turned out so tasty! The pili nuts cook up so perfect and golden, and the caramelized flavors that come through….oh boy. If you missed our first recipe post about these dreamy nuts, head on over here for our pili nut tostones!
Don’t forget the limes, the drizzle of lime juice on this pili nut crusted chicken makes all the flavors come together. It’s the perfect dish you can basically prep ahead of time and cook in flash for a family or guests. The micro fruit salad of cubed kiwi, mango and dragon fruit is certainly optional, but adds such a burst of color and sparkles with the drizzle of lime juice too. This micro fruit salad is from our friend May over at loveurbelly.com – we find ourselves making variations of it all the time.
Let’s talk about this purple cauli mash! Simple ingredients and so creamy delicious you’ll want to enjoy it all the time. The addition of Pili Nut butter is mind blowing and needs nothing else besides salt to all come together. As a note…lime juice on this mash will provide you with a color changing experience, hot PINK! So if you need dinner conversation, drizzle away with the lime juice, but otherwise…keep the lime juice to the chicken and fruit!
Pili Nut chicken
recipe description here
Credit: backporchpaleo.com
Ingredients
- purple cauli mash
- head of purple cauliflower, cut up into small florets
- 2 oz Pili Hunters Pili Nut Butter, room temperature
- Redmond Real Salt to taste pili nut chicken
- 3 chicken breasts, cut in half horizontally
- Redmond Real Salt for seasoning coating:
- 1½-2 cups Pili Hunters Pili Nuts, raw & preferably unsalted
- ½ tsp Redmond Real Salt (if pili nuts are unsalted, omit if not)
- 2 tbls fresh cilantro
- 1 tbls Otto’s Cassava flour
- 2 eggs, room temp
- splash of Red Boat Fish Sauce
- avocado oil for cooking
- lime wedges for serving, a MUST!
- micro fruit salad, optional (from our friend May over at loveurbelly.com)
Directions
- purple cauli mash
- Steam florets until fork tender.
- Place florets in food processor and whirl away until completely smooth.
- Add pili nut butter and whirl around again until fully combined.
- Add salt to taste and keep warm until chicken is done.
Directions
- pili nut chicken
- Pat chicken dry with a paper towel and season with a sprinkle of salt on both sides and set aside.
- Chop pili nuts, cilantro and ½ tsp salt with all together until you have a nice small chop on those tasty pili nuts. I’ve tried using a food processor to do this, but these luscious nuts are so buttery, that they release their oils fast, so take the time and chop up the old fashioned way. Once you have a nice fine texture, add the cassava flour and toss about to get a nice coating on the mixture. Should have pretty flecks of green from the cilantro! Place in a shallow bowl/plate and set aside and reserve a small amount for garnish before you dredge that raw chicken in it!
- In another shallow bowl/plate, whisk up eggs and fish sauce until well combined, and set aside.
- Set up your assembly line! Dip a piece of chicken in the egg/fish sauce mixture then place in the pili nut mixture and press to make sure you’re getting the whole piece coated. Carefully place on a plate and repeat with remaining 5 pieces of chicken.
- Heat up cast iron skillet over medium heat, add avocado oil and let warm. Carefully place 2-3 pieces of chicken in pan and cook until pili nuts are golden brown. Flip carefully with a thin metal spatula and cook until other side is golden brown and chicken is done. It’s best to have the heat a little bit lower as these nuts can burn fast if the heat is up too high. Take your time, you want that chicken done on the inside before those nuts get too dark.
- Once chicken is done, remove from pan and place in a warm oven. Repeat with remaining chicken pieces.
- Serve with purple cauli mash and lime wedges, and reserved nut crumble for garnish. Micro fruit salad is optional but super dreamy!
