Crunchy coconut & lime chicken drumsticks

Tropical flavours are a little out-of-the-ordinary on our dinner table, but I'm trying to change that. Coconut and lime is such a fantastic flavour combination and I had been daydreaming for a while about how to play with that combo in a savoury dish. The result is these crunchy coconut and lime chicken drumsticks. Marinated in acidic lime juice for a few hours, the meat stays tender and juicy, and the crunchy golden coating adds sweet coconut, a hint of chili, and more lime in the form of zest.

Mr. Feedbag really loves these. I suppose they're like a tropical vacation for the fifteen minutes it takes to eat dinner. Hey, I'll take what I can get!

Here's how I made them:

3 lbs chicken drumsticks (about a dozen)
zest and juice of 1 lime
3/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 eggs
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

I started by zesting the lime and setting aside the zest for later. The drumsticks were laid snugly in a 9x9 baking dish and the lime was juiced over the chicken. I covered the chicken and returned it to the fridge to marinate for 3 hours.

When ready to cook, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees (F). In a large shallow bowl, I combined the lime zest, coconut, panko crumbs, salt and chili powder and mixed evenly. The eggs were beaten in a medium shallow bowl, and the flour was added to a second medium shallow bowl. Each drumstick was coated first in the flour, then in the beaten egg, then the crumb mixture. All the drumsticks were placed on a parchment-lined baking sheet, which went into the oven for 40 minutes until the chicken was cooked through and the coating was golden and crunchy.

Mmm, troptastic! Here's hoping out-of-the-ordinary becomes a more regular thing.

How do you use tropical flavours in your cooking? Got a favourite recipe? Share the link!