Sunderland Echo

My healthy version of southern fried truly scrumptiou­s chicken

- WITH Karen Wright

One of the things I do work-wise is developing recipes. I found out when I was chosen for The Great British Bake Off that all recipes need to be your own. Often it is just a tweak or an extra spice or seasoning that you can add. And, hey presto, it is your own recipe!

Many of the things I make of course are baked goods, usually heavy on the calories and consequent­ly the waistline.

I try to keep my day-to-day meals as healthy as possible.

I am now writing a recipe a week for a young man who is quite famous on TikTok.

He is on a weight-loss mission and is doing very well.

We are hoping to publish a book together next year – recipe diary of his journey.

This recipe is one I gave him recently. It is a take on popular fast-food meal southern fried chicken but without the frying element!

I used boneless and skinless chicken thighs for this recipe as they are juicy and cheap but chicken breast would work just as well.

I blitzed up a slice of wholemeal bread to make breadcrumb­s and added Cajun spices along with some salt and pepper.

Next I cut up the chicken into large chunks, coated them in tomato puree and dipped them into the breadcrumb­s, ensuring they were well covered.

I sprayed them well with oil and baked them in a hot oven for about 30 minutes until crispy, golden and crunchy.

Finally I gave them a good squeeze of lemon juice and served with some corn on the cob and vegetables. Totally scrumptiou­s!

In the kitchen this week I am making my Christmas cakes. I am a bit late this year as things have been quite hectic.

The recipe I use is on my www.karenwrigh­tbakes.co.uk website.

I make a couple for us. I decorate one, the other we keep plain and eat with cheese.

Does anyone else use the same plastic decoration­s year after year?

I love to see the same old Santa and reindeers stuck into the royal icing “snow”.

It is the same when the tree decoration­s come down from the loft, each one brings back memories.

Some of my decoration­s are over 60 years old ... just like me!

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Recipe for southern fried chicken

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