Despite the diverse ingredients necessary for this Chicken Parmesan recipe, the process overall is relatively simple and the result is delicious! I tried this for an iftar just yesterday and found that despite its complete lack of Egyptian or even Arab origin, it simply made for a great meal. Serve this with pasta, using the extra sauce you make as pasta sauce. This recipe serves three.
Ingredients:
Sauce:
An onion
1/4 cup of olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
2 cans of tomato pulp
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of oregano
Chicken:
6 small chicken breasts, cut thinly (tell the butcher you want them cut "pannee")
1/2 cup of breadcrumbs
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs
Salt
Corn or sunflower oil for frying
Final dish:
1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese, grated
6 basil leaves, chopped
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
Directions:
1. Begin with the sauce: grate the onion and cook it in the olive oil for a couple of minutes.
2. Add in the garlic, minced or smashed, and keep cooking until it all yellows.
3. Add in the cans of tomato pulp, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and the oregano.
4. Bring to a boil and then turn heat down for tomato sauce to simmer, uncovered, as you make the chicken.
5. Preheat the oven to 200C.
6. For the chicken, salt breast pieces and place them on a plate.
7. Break eggs into a shallow dish and beat slightly until yolks are broken up.
8. In another plate, mix breadcrumbs with 1/2 cup of Parmesan.
9. Heat oil until tiny bubbles show up at the bottom of the frying pan, but if it smokes, the oil is too hot.
10. Start the dipping process: cover each breast in egg on both sides, then in breadcrumbs on both sides, and place it in the frying pan.
11. At this point you may want to turn the heat down a little so that each breast side, after three minutes, is a nice golden brown.
12. After three minutes, turn the chicken breasts over, cook for another three minutes, and take out to dry on paper towels to soak up some of the excess oil.
13. When you have the sauce and the chicken ready, coat the bottom of a casserole dish with the tomato sauce and place the cooked chicken breasts on top of the sauce.
14. Coat the chicken breasts with more sauce and add chopped basil leaves.
15. Finish by topping with the grated mozzarella and then the grated Parmesan.
16. Leave to bake in the oven for ten minutes, then turn on the broiler to slightly brown the Parmesan on top.
