Thanks, Food & Wine procuring and printing this amazing recipe. While flipping through a copy of F&W, I stumbled upon these Hot-and-Spicy Chicken Cones. These chicken wraps are famous to The Mighty Cone food trailer in Austin, TX, and I can see why. Meet my new favorite chicken recipe.
Flour tortillas wrap together a sweet and spicy mango slaw with strips of super crunchy chicken. The crunch comes the clever breading made of ground up cornflakes, red pepper chili flakes, sesame seeds, almonds, sugar, and salt.
So spicy, so crunchy, you’ll forget all about Chick-fil-A’s new Spicy Chicken Sandwich. The spice is pleasant without too much burn, and the sugar and mango add sweetness. I think you’ll be surprised how extremely crunchy these are. I was amazed.
If you’re cooking this for guests, you can simplify things by making the slaw the day before.
Hot-and-Crunchy Chicken Cones
Ingredients
Mango Slaw
1/2 cup diced mango
2 large jalapeños, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 small shallot, minced
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
7 cups shredded coleslaw mix
Chicken Cones
3 cups cornflakes
6 tablespoons slivered almonds
6 tablespoons sesame seeds
6 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons crushed red pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
All-purpose flour, for dredging
Six 5-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, sliced lengthwise 1 inch thick
Vegetable oil, for frying
Six 10-inch flour tortillas, warmed
Directions
In a saucepan, combine the mango, jalapeños, vinegar, sugar, water and shallot. Cover and simmer until the mango is softened, 10 minutes.
Transfer the mango mixture to a food processor and puree; scrape into a large bowl. Stir in the mayonnaise, cilantro, garlic and lime juice and season with salt and pepper. Add the coleslaw mix and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate.
Wipe out the food processor. Add the cornflakes, almonds, sesame seeds, sugar, red pepper and salt and pulse until coarsely chopped. Transfer the mixture to a large, shallow bowl. In a second shallow bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk. Fill a third shallow bowl with flour. Dredge the chicken strips in the flour, shaking off any excess. Dip them in the eggs, then roll them in the cornflake mixture.
Set a rack over a rimmed baking sheet. In a large skillet, heat 1/4 inch of oil. Working in batches, fry the chicken over moderately high heat, turning once, until golden brown, 6 minutes; transfer to the rack. Set the fried chicken on the tortillas and top with the mango slaw. Roll up and eat right away.
This article appears in Jul 13-19, 2010.
