some tasty chicken

I have to save this recipe, it was so good. I have a habit of losing recipes in the random piles of papers around our house. If I blog it, I know I can find it.

This recipe came together kind of randomly. I was looking through the cupboard for something to make for dinner and realized we have like 4 different containers of macadamia nuts. I'm not sure where they all came from exactly but I think it was a combination of Hawaii and Christmas. My mom gives us nuts in our stockings....Anyways, I know they'll never get eaten unless I make something out of them, hence:

Macadamia Nut Chicken with Mango-Pineapple Relish (like brother Chris said this sounds exotic but its actually really simple)
~adapted from Coastal Living via Noble Pig

1/2 Cup soy sauce
1 1/2 Tablepoons brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Mirin (Japanese rice wine,) ~ we didnt use this
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
5 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts - I cut each one in half for 8 pieces
salt and pepper
1 cup macadamia nuts, finely chopped
3/4 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs) ~ we just used normal bread crumbs but panko is so good
2/3 cup flour
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tablesppons butter

Relish:
1 cup mango or papaya, diced
1 cup fresh pineapple, diced
1/3 cup sugar

Whisk together soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic and 1 Tablespoon olive oil. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and place in a large heavy duty zip lock bag. pour marinade over chicken, seal and let marinate for at least an hour.

Meanwhile combine mango, pineapple and sugar in a medium heavy saucepan. bring to a boil, stirring constantly; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine macadamia nuts and panko in a shallow dish. place flour in a seperate shallow dish; place eggs in another shallow dish.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. remove chicken from marinade. dredge chicken in flour, and dip in eggs, shaking off excess. dredge in crumb mixture.

heat 2 Tablespoons oil and 1 Tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat until butter melts. cook the chicken breasts over medium heat for 2 minutes; turn and cook 3 minutes or until golden. transfer the chicken to a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for 17 minutes (our chicken were in smaller pieces so they didnt take that long, i just had to check when they were done). serve with mango-pineapple relish.

This dish was really good, at least Im guessing it was since brother Chrissy ate 5 pieces, leaving me with only one :) it tasted like Chicken teriyaki. The macadamia nuts make it really crunchy and the fruit relish made it taste kinda tropical. it was a really fun meal to have when the weather was so gross.