Name: Smashed avocado with crispy chicken, pickled onions & tortillas
Prep time: 50 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 large, very ripe avocados; juice 1 lemon; 8 seeded soft tortillas or your favourite flatbreads, warmed; small bunch coriander to serve; 1 large red onion very thinly sliced; 100ml red wine vinegar; 4 tbsp caster sugar; 4 skinless chicken breasts each cut into 3-4 chunky strips; 284ml pot buttermilk; 85g polenta or cornmeal; 85g plain flour; 1 tbsp sesame seed; 1 tbsp sweet paprika; ½ tsp cayenne pepper; 2 pinches ground cinnamon; 1 tsp garlic salt (or normal salt); sunflower oil for shallow-frying

Smashed avocado with crispy chicken, pickled onions & tortillas

2 large, very ripe avocados
juice 1 lemon
8 seeded soft tortillas
or your favourite flatbreads, warmed
small bunch coriander
to serve

For the onions

1 large red onion
very thinly sliced
100ml red wine vinegar
4 tbsp caster sugar

For the chicken

4 skinless chicken breasts
each cut into 3-4 chunky strips
284ml pot buttermilk
85g polenta
or cornmeal
85g plain flour
1 tbsp sesame seed
1 tbsp sweet paprika
½ tsp cayenne pepper
2 pinches ground cinnamon
1 tsp garlic salt
(or normal salt)
sunflower oil
for shallow-frying

Method

step 1
Mix the chicken strips with the buttermilk and chill for about half a day.
step 2
Mix all the onion ingredients, season with salt and set aside to marinate for at least 30 mins or up to half a day.
step 3
Mix together the polenta or cornmeal, flour, sesame seeds, paprika, cayenne pepper, cinnamon and garlic salt on a plate. Heat 2cm sunflower oil in a deep frying pan (or slightly more in a big wok) until a cube of bread browns in 1 min. Lift the chicken from the buttermilk and drop into the flour mix, tossing to coat well. Add about 3 chicken strips at a time to the oil and fry, turning, until golden on all sides and just cooked through. Drain on kitchen paper while you fry the rest.
step 4
Halve and stone each avocado, scrape out the flesh into a bowl with the lemon juice and some seasoning, and very roughly smash together with the back of a spoon. Spread over the warm tortillas or flatbreads, top with the crispy chicken, pickled onions and some coriander, and roll up to tuck in.