Fusion-style Chicken Chop

“When ‘East meets the West’ Chicken Chop… Check it out!”

It was unexpectedly tasty.. I loved  Western food, and was pretty head cracking for how to make my cooking much more impressive than usual, just for the special occassion like Christmas celebration.

I was just trying out casually, without any firmer clue in mind, I used ‘common sense’ to do the seasoning on my chicken chop, and hoped it will not taste too far out from imagining. To play even safer, and also worried the taste of my Western dishes wouldn’t be good enough for the meal, I even bought an instant mushroom and white wine sauce packet from the store, thought this savoury sauce (which I have tried before) could go along with my chicken chop, just in case the chop tasted too bland :p..

So, what was the end result? Fortunately, my adventurous Western meal cooking didn’t ruin my reputation! Instead, the chop was delicious and perfectly done. It was well complimented.

This chicken chop was kinda Fusion-style as seasoned with both the Chinese and Western condiments (laughing). No worries at all, such combination was compatible and the chop tasted so flavourful and fragrant in the palate.

I liked my chicken chop both ways, with and without the dipping sauce.

This recipe is simply easy on both the ingredients used and method to cook. Perhaps, you can try this for the up-coming New Year celebration dinner (smile)? Let the seasoning does the job!

Ingredients
2 large boneless chicken thighs with skin
1 small cup of sliced button mushrooms

Seasoning for chicken chop:
2 – 3 teaspoons of Steak Seasoning (Mild) spice powder (*I used Masterfoods brand)
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 teaspoon of light soy sauce

For sautéing use:
4 tablespoons of olive oil

Gravy/ Dipping sauce for the chicken chop:
1 packet of ready made Mushroom & White Wine Sauce from the stores

Method
1) Marination: Wash boneless chicken thighs. Then, pat dry with kitchen towel.

2) Place chicken in a large deep plate, and rub seasoning with following sequence: light soy sauce, oyster sauce and steak seasoning powder. Rub both sides of the meat to coat well. Cover and place in the refrigerator to marinate for 3-4 hours. For longer marinating time, do reduce the amount of seasoning to avoid over-saltish taste.

3) When ready to cook: Pat dry sliced button mushrooms. Heat large frying pan/ skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Scatter button mushrooms slices on the entire frying pan and brown both sides of the mushrooms using medium low fire. Note: Do not crowd the mushrooms! It’s true.. Otherwise, it will not browned.

5) When mushrooms are browned, dish up. Divide into two portions and set them aside for later (*one portion will be kept for gravy making).

6) Now, add more olive oil in the pan and heat it up over medium-high fire. Place chicken thighs, one by one with skin-side-down on the pan. Reduce heat to medium-low fire, after 10 – 20 seconds of pan-frying. Then, sauté chicken on lower heat till golden browned and lightly crisped. Same thing, flip over to another side to sauté till lightly browned. *It’s OK, if the browning is uneven on the skinless side, as long as the chop’s cooked thoroughly inside.

7) Place about 1 tablespoon of mushroom slices on a large flat serving dish. Then, lay a piece of chicken chop on top. If desired, sprinkle some mushrooms on top of the chicken chop, too. Then, serve the gravy separately by the side (my preference as I wanted the chicken skin to remain cripsed). Alternatively, pour the gravy on top of the chicken chop.

8) For instant gravy/ sauce making: Simply heat up the instant packet of mushroom & white wine sauce over low heat. Add the half portion of sautéed mushroom slices into the gravy.

You may find these types of western sauce packages at major supermarkets (confectionery/ dry goods/ pasta/ canned food section). I already couldn’t remember which brand (will check it out again later.. [Post note: It’s MasterFoods brand]), but I got this packet of Mushroom & White Wine sauce from Carrerfour Hypermarket @ Plaza Singapura.
For convenience sake, I did not make my own mushroom gravy for the chicken chop, but I hope I will do it one casual day soon… (smile).

A serving of the chicken chop with button mushrooms counts about 170kcal (sauce counts separately).

Tips: Make sure the fire is not too strong when pan-frying the chicken chops, especially if the piece is large and thick. Keep an eye on the heat while sautéing, check its doneness constantly.
* If prefer more crispy skin, pan-fry the skin-side one more time on high heat for few more seconds, after both sides of the chicken are cooked and browned, before dish up.
* Use Steak Seasoning powder is alright, even if you are non beef-taker, like us. In fact, it uses chicken extract and spices, e.g. paprika, in the ingredients.
* If you do not wish to make the instant mushroom gravy, dip with other condiments, such as, sweet chili sauce, ketchup, Tobasco sauce or honey mustard will make good taste, too. Otherwise, like me, eat just the aromatic and flavoursome chicken chop by itself.