Homemade Chicken Nuggets with Carrot Sticks and Hummus

Ingredients

• 600g skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized chunks
• 60g plain flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 100g panko breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp garlic granules
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into batons
• 1 cucumber, cut into batons
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 3 tbsp tahini
• 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to finish
• 3 tbsp ice-cold water
• fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked, to serve
• a pinch of smoked paprika, to serve
• extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle, to serve
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve
• Warm pitta breads, to serve
• Simple green salad, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C fan. Line a large baking tray with baking paper and drizzle over the 2 tbsp olive oil — that pre-heated slick of oil is what gives the nuggets their shatter-crisp underside, like a shallow oven-fry.
2. Tip the panko into a shallow bowl with the garlic granules, smoked paprika and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Toast the spiced crumbs in a dry pan for 30–60 seconds until fragrant and just turning sandy gold — blooming the paprika and cumin in dry heat wakes them up so they taste of themselves, not of the tin. Tip back into the bowl. Set up a breading station: flour in one bowl, beaten eggs in a second, seasoned panko in a third. Season the chicken chunks generously with salt and pepper before they go anywhere near the flour.
3. Working one piece at a time, roll each chicken chunk in flour and shake off the excess, dunk into the egg until fully coated, then press firmly into the panko so the crumbs cling all over. Lay on the oiled tray with space between each piece — crowd them and they'll steam instead of crisp.
4. Bake for 20–22 minutes, turning halfway, until deeply golden, crisp all over and cooked through with no pink at the centre.
5. While the nuggets bake, toss the carrot batons with the olive oil, ground cumin and a good pinch of salt — the cumin blooms in the hot oil as they roast, going nutty rather than dusty. Spread on a second tray in a single layer and roast alongside the nuggets for 18–20 minutes, until tender and caramelised at the edges.
6. Meanwhile, make the hummus. Drop the garlic clove into the food processor with the chickpeas, tahini and lemon juice. Blitz for 1 minute until roughly combined — the raw garlic gets tamed by the lemon juice as it sits, but keep it to one clove so it doesn't bully the tahini.
7. With the motor running, stream in the extra virgin olive oil followed by the ice-cold water. Blitz for a further 2–3 minutes until very pale, fluffy and silky — the ice water is what whips air through it and lifts the texture. Taste, season with salt, taste again. Adjust now — at the table is too late.
8. Spoon the hummus into a wide bowl and swoosh the back of the spoon through it to make a generous well. Drizzle the well with extra virgin olive oil so it pools, then dust with smoked paprika.
9. Pile the hot, crisp nuggets onto a large serving board next to the hummus. Tuck the roasted carrots and cucumber batons in alongside, scatter the picked parsley leaves over the lot, squeeze a little lemon over the carrots, and arrange the remaining lemon wedges, warm pitta and green salad on the board to finish.