Little Chicken Bytes

There are days when I really want to go into the fine details of what I'm cooking and there are days when I use short cuts. The "Little Chicken Bytes" - now a major hit with at least 3 families that have sampled them - were invented on a day when I was in the mood for short cuts. They're easy to make, relatively mess free and they don't have to be deep fried if you use an air fryer - which I would recommend you use if you're as fond of fried stuff as yours truly! :-) They're packed with flavour and look great when you plate em' up. Very convenient if you want to hand out some hot snacks for a gathering of 6 - 8 people, especially if some of them are children!

So here's what you need:

1. 2 packets of Chicken Sausages (I usually go for the ones with some flavour - like garlic or pepper). Blitz these in the blender till you have a nice mince. 
2. 2 eggs
3. 2 slices of brown bread, crumbled finly by hand
4. 2 tsp of freshly crushed pepper corns
5. 1/2 cup of minced dill leaves - or more if you like the fmavour
6. 1/4 cup of minced corriander
7. 1 tsp of tabasco
8. 1 cup of white oats, blitzed in the blender till you have coarse crumbs
9. Olive oil

All you need to do is:

1. Combine ingredients 1 - 7 in a large mixing bowl and keep mixing for about 7 minutes, so that you have a nice, even mix
2. Add a little salt if you want to and mix in nicely
3. At this point pre-heat your Air Fryer to 180 degrees C. I usually pre-head for 15 min
4. Take a table spoon full of the mix and roll it into a ball. Repeat with the remaining mix until you have no mix left.
5. Roll each of the balls in the powdered oats so that they are evenly covered on all sides
6. Brush them with olive oil so that they are coated all over

Put in a batch in the air fryer and cook for 15 min - and your first serving is ready! 

The oats usually turn from golden to a deep red and they puff up a bit too. So you end up biting through a warm crust to reach a moist and flavorful medley of chicken and herbs. The dill is usually the strongest of all the flavours. A personal favouirte of mine, anyway!

The dish is usually very popular with children, esspecially if you've spared the chillies!

Serve with ketchup or a spicy mayonaise. 

If you want to make this spicy, add minced green chilles to the mix. Add as many as you like - keeping the tastes of your audience in mind.