Crispy Falafel Chicken with Cucumber-Yogurt Salad

Tonight we made what Food Network terms falafel chicken with a raita-esque cucumber-yogurt salad. Really tasty and fantastically easy.  It was, well, like eating chicken and falafel at the same time.

Which we were.

The chicken is coated and first fried, then baked.

The spices in the falafel mix add a wonderful new taste to chicken that, by its looks, you'd think was just plain breaded.

I made the salad with local labneh, a spreadably thick, salty Lebanese yogurt.

You have just enough time to whip up the salad while the chicken's doing its brief stint in the oven.


Next time, I'd like to try grating the cucumber to make a more tzatziki-like shape to it. The flavors were really lovely, though, and quintessentially Mediterranean. Mint, cucumbers, garlic, onions, yogurt, lemon juice, salt.... we left out the dill.

So fresh. So moreish.  SO doing this again.



Chicken: 
1/2 cup prepared falafel mix
Vegetable oil, for frying
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (note: we cut them into smaller pieces; 2 breasts served 3 people perfectly)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Salad:
1/2 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
3 Kirby cucumbers, diced (I don't know what Kirby cucumbers are; we used what we find locally which are about half the size I'm used to from the States.)
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, roughly torn
1/4 cup fresh dill fronds, coarsely chopped
1/4 red onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 lemon

Directions
For the chicken: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place a small rack on a baking sheet.

Put the falafel mix in a pie plate or other shallow bowl. Heat about 1/2 inch oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken breasts with salt and black pepper, to taste, and coat with the falafel mix, shaking off any excess. Carefully place the chicken in the hot oil, taking care not to crowd the pan. Cook until nicely browned, turning once, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Repeat with the rest of the chicken.

Transfer the chicken to the prepared rack. Bake until firm but slightly springy when pressed, 6 to 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the Yogurt Salad: Toss the mint, cucumbers, dill, onion, garlic, and salt in a small bowl. Finely grate the zest from the lemon into the salad and squeeze in the lemon's juice too. Stir the yogurt into the salad.