Step 2 Put flour on a large plate and season (or add flavouring, see over page). Put eggs and water in a shallow bowl and whisk until lightly beaten. Put breadcrumbs on another large plate. Mix in parmesan and parsley (or crumb seasoning, see over page). Coat 1 chicken piece in flour mixture.
Step 3 Dust off excess flour then dip in egg mixture. Allow excess to drip off.
Step 4 Coat in crumb mixture, pressing firmly to adhere. Transfer to another large plate.
Step 5 Repeat Steps 2–4 with remaining chicken. Cover schnitzels with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow crumb to set.
Step 6 Pour oil into a large frying pan until 5mm deep. Heat over a medium heat. When oil is hot, cook 2 schnitzels on 1 side for 3 minutes or until golden brown.
Step 7 Flip schnitzels and cook for a further 3 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Set aside and keep warm. Repeat with remaining schnitzels. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.
Personalise your ingredients
Pick your meat
• Scotch fillet steak
• Veal cutlet
• Pork fillet
• Uncrumbed veal schnitzel steak (also known as escalopes)
• Chicken thigh fillet (top) or breast fillet (bottom)
Notes
• You can use any meat you like – lean fillets are best.
• Choose skinless, boneless cuts (except for veal cutlets).
• Should be no more than 1cm thick before pounding. Slice if it is.
• Cooking times may vary.
Flavour the flour
• Mexican – taco seasoning
• Flavoursome – chicken stock powder
• Spicy – chilli flakes or cayenne pepper
• Herby – dried herbs
• Smoky – sweet smoked paprika
Choose a crumb
• Quinoa flakes are quinoa grains rolled into a flat flake. For a gluten-free schnitzel, use these for crumbs and swap plain flour for quinoa flour.
• Cornflake crumbs are a fine yellow crumb made from the breakfast cereal. It makes for a nice crunch.
• Panko breadcrumbs, from Japan, are more like bread flakes than a ground crumb. They give fried foods a light, airy and crunchy coating. Find in the Asian aisle of the supermarket.
• Fresh breadcrumbs are often sold at bakeries, but they’re easy to make too. Remove and discard crusts from 6 slices of day-old bread. Roughly tear slices and process in a food processor until coarse crumbs form.
• Dried breadcrumbs, a very fine-ground crumb, are the cheapest option. Buy white or wholegrain varieties at the supermarket.
Season the coating
• Cheesy – finely grated parmesan
• Asian – sesame seeds
• Zesty – finely grated lemon rind
• Herby – finely chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley and oregano
