Chicken Flautas -

Chicken Flautas

Ingredients

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
15ml/1 tbsp vegetable oil
90g/3½oz feta cheese, crumbled
12 corn tortillas, freshly made or a few days old
Oil, for frying
Salt and ground black pepper

For the salsa

3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
Juice of ½ lime
Small bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped
½ small onion, finely chopped
3 fresh fresno chillies or similar fresh green chillies, seeded and chopped

Details

Makes: 12

Method

1. Start by making the salsa. Mix the tomatoes, lime juice, coriander, onion and chillies in a bowl. Season with salt to taste and set aside.

2. Put the chicken breasts in a large pan, add water to cover and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Remove the chicken from the pan and let it cool a little. Using two forks, shred the chicken into small pieces. Set it aside.

3. Chop the onion finely and crush the garlic. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and garlic and fry over a low heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onion has softened but not coloured. Add the shredded chicken, with salt and pepper to taste. Mix well, remove from the heat and stir in the feta.

4. Before they can be rolled, soften the tortillas by steaming three or four at a time on a plate over boiling water for a few moments until they are pliable. Alternatively, wrap them in microwave safe film and then heat them in a microwave oven on full power for about 30 seconds.

5. Place a spoonful of the chicken filling on one of the tortillas. Roll the tortilla tightly around the filling to make a neat cylinder. Secure with a cocktail stick (toothpick). Cover the roll with clear film (plastic wrap) to prevent the tortilla from drying out and splitting. Fill the remaining tortillas in the same way.

6. Pour oil into a frying pan to a depth of 2.5cm/1in. Heat it until a small cube of bread, added to the oil, rises to the surface and bubbles at the edges before turning golden. Remove the cocktail sticks, then add the flutes to the pan, a few at a time.

7. Fry the flutes for 2-3 minutes until golden, turning frequently. Drain on kitchen paper and serve at once, with the salsa.

COOK'S TIP:- You might find it easier to keep the cocktail sticks in place until after the flutes have been fried, in which case remove them before serving.

Energy 89Kcal/374kj; Protein 9.1g; Carbohydrate 6.9g of which sugars 1.7g; Fat 2.9g of which saturates 1.3g; Cholesterol 26mg; Calcium 43mg; Fibre 0.6g; Sodium 151mg

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