Cordon Bleu Chicken Pops

By Chef Aji Joseph

Cordon Bleu Pops are crumb fried spiced chicken mince dumplings filled with molten cheese. They are crunchy, tender, oozy, more like little bites of heaven and make for perfect party food.

Ingredients:

Chicken mince: 200 g

Onion, finely chopped – 1 tbsp

Garlic, finely chopped – 1 tsp

Celery, finely chopped – 1 tbsp

Parsley, finely chopped – 1 tsp

Butter: 30g

Mixed herbs: 1 pinch

Salt: To taste

White pepper powder: 1tsp

Potato, mashed: 50 g

Cheddar cheese, grated: 25 g

Mozzarella cheese, grated: 25 g

Egg, beaten: 2 nos

Refined flour: 50 g

Breadcrumbs: 100 g

Method:

Cooking the chicken

Heat up a non-stick pan and melt the butter. Add the chopped onion, garlic and celery and sauté till translucent. Add mixed herbs and white pepper powder. Now add the minced chicken and cook till the mixture is almost dry with very little moisture content. Make sure the chicken mince is all separated and does not have any lumps. Allow the mixture to cool down and then add the potato mash and mix well.

Preparing the cheese filling

Mix both grated cheeses, parsley and just enough salt to make a thick cheese mixture.

Assembling the dish

With the chilled chicken mince mixture, make small dumplings of 15 g each. With the cheese mixture, make smaller dumplings 1/4th the size of chicken dumplings. Take the chicken dumplings in hand and slightly flatten them. Place the cheese dumplings in the center of the flattened chicken mixture and reshape back to a ball with cheese completely covered inside.

Break 2 eggs and beat them in a bowl. Take 50 g of flour in another bowl. Place the breadcrumbs in the third bowl.

Dust the cheese-filled dumplings with flour and then drop them into the egg mixture and then evenly coat them with breadcrumbs. Keep the breaded chicken pops in a refrigerator and let them chill for some time.

Heat a saucepan and add oil just enough to immerse in a couple of dumplings. When the oil is hot, slide the breaded chicken balls into the oil and let them fry to a golden brown. Strain them from oil to a butter paper. Serve along with your favorite sauce.