Quick barbecue orange chicken - super speedy!

I have been hearing a lot about "Orange Chicken" just recently and had been keeping my eye open for a recipe that would suit me.  Such a lot of recipes seem to involve coating the chicken pieces in batter and either deep frying them, or frying them in some way, shape or form, before adding the sauce - and I'm just not into that.  I'm not averse to colouring the chicken in a frying pan though - ostensibly frying it, but in just a whisper of oil and without the batter.

This week, I found this recipe "Crockpot Orange Chicken" from Heidi's Home Cooking blog and it was so simple that I felt it would stand up to being swiftly cooked in a wok or frying pan (or skillet, depending on where you're from!) as opposed to the slow cooker it was intended for.  However, as is my wont, immediately I began thinking about ways of broadening its flavour horizons.

So, step 1 was to make sure the seasoning was on point and as we're using soy sauce there were no worries about the salt.  However, pepper wasn't mentioned - and I wound up using both black and white peppers.  Black pepper directly on the chicken and the white pepper in the final seasoning of the sauce.

I could also see that some garlic and ginger wouldn't go amiss, however hubby is sensitive to ginger so that was out (but feel free to add some if you're okay with it!) but some finely chopped fresh garlic cooked with the chicken became step 2.

Because of the lack of ginger, it seemed as though some red chili pepper would be a good idea, so step 3 was to add a finely chopped fresh red chili and dried red chili flakes, to taste.  This was a lovely addition as it definitely helped to balance out the sweetness from the barbecue sauce and the orange marmalade, although using a dark coloured marmalade also helped in that regard as it was rather more bitter than sweet.

All together, because I had everything prepped and ready to go before I started cooking, the dish only took around 25-30 minutes from start to serve, which was perfect.

Both my menfolk really liked this dish and returned clean plates to the kitchen.  Always a satisfaction!  The flavours weren't hugely in one way or the other - both the barbecue sauce and the marmalade seemed to be knitted together with the help of the soy sauce and the garlic and chili just helped to make everyone friends.  As it was cooked so quickly, the chicken didn't have an opportunity to dry out, staying moist and tender throughout.

I served the chicken with egg fried rice, some prawn crackers and chopped spring onion sprinkled over as garnish, however it occurred to us that it would be fairly epic served similarly to crispy fried duck - in small pancakes with spring onion & cucumber shreds.  So I'll leave that aspect up to you, but do let me know how you like it if you try it!

QUICK BARBECUE ORANGE CHICKEN   (Serves 3)

Ingredients :

200 ml of a good, tasty barbecue sauce
1 heaped tbsp of a dark orange marmalade
2 tsp cornflour
1 red chili pepper, finely chopped
3 tbsp light soy sauce
a good pinch of white pepper
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, sliced finely against the grain
a pinch of black pepper
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped on the diagonal for garnish.

Method :

In a jug, whisk together the barbecue sauce, marmalade, cornflour, chili pepper, soy sauce and white pepper and set aside.

Heat the rapeseed oil in a deep frying pan or wok and add the chicken.  Season with the black pepper.  Cook over a high heat until all trace of pinkness has gone from the chicken.

Add the chopped garlic and continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes until softened and fragrant, in the residual liquid from the chicken.

Pour in the sauce and stir to combine.  Bring the sauce to a boil and allow it to reduce until a sticky glaze consistency has been reached and it is coating the chicken.

Serve, adding a sprinkle of chopped spring onion as garnish, with your choice of additional rice and a few prawn crackers for crunch.

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Chicken Satay Salad - a long way from ordinary!

We're currently going through something of a heatwave here in the U.K. - June 2017 - and salads are definitely in. However, because I wanted to try and make salad eating something good as opposed to something yawn-inducing (oh come on, you know it can be!), I've been experimenting with some rather out of the box kinds of salads and this one is by far the best we've tried (so far!).

The original inspiration came from the good old BBC Good Food website, as very often happens.  Their version of the salad can be found here and from that you'll be able to see that I've added a little and taken away a little from the original, but it is still very close.  

Yes, it requires a little bit of work before time with marinating the chicken but I also recommend that you wash your lettuce and put it in an inflated freezer bag in the fridge to crisp up.  Doing this makes all the difference to a crisp, crunchy salad.

When you get down to preparing dinner, it really is just a matter of chopping and building the salad, then spending a moment or two grilling the chicken, slicing, garnishing and hey presto - dinner is on the plate.  It really is as easy as that.

I've divided the recipe up into three sections, to make it easier to see what should be used for what.  I hope that proves helpful.

As for Cook's Tips, the only recommendation I have for you is that you chop up the salad before cooking the chicken.  You can always put the salad back into the fridge while the chicken is cooking, so as to keep everything fresh and crunchy.  Then, once the chicken is done it can rest and cool a little while you quickly plate up the salad items.

I can see that this is going to be a regular fall-back salad for blisteringly hot days.  My menfolk thought it was delicious and professed themselves keen to see it again very soon!

CHICKEN SATAY SALAD   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

For the chicken

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp curry powder of your choice (I used a medium)
half a tsp of ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
2 tsp runny honey.

For the sauce

1.5 tbsp peanut butter (crunchy or smooth, it's up to you, but a sugar free version is good)
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
juice of 1 lime
cold water, as required.

For the salad

a selection of salad leaves (I used Romaine and Iceberg lettuces)
a large vine tomato, halved and sliced
cucumber, sliced thickly and halved (two slices/four halves per person)
small seedless green grapes (5-6 per person)
half a red onion, sliced finely
cooked beetroot wedges (four per person)
mustard & cress
fresh parsley, chopped
3 tbsp dry roasted peanuts.

Method :

At least one hour before you are due to begin cooking, marinate the chicken.

Place the soy sauce, curry powder, cumin, garlic and honey into a large bowl and mix well.

Taking each chicken breast, run your knife horizontally through from the thickest end to the thinnest, creating two thin fillets.  Plate the fillets into the marinade and stir well, to ensure every little bit is coated.  Cover with cling film and refrigerate until required.

When it is time to cook, begin by mixing up the satay sauce.  In a medium sized bowl, add the peanut butter, sweet chilli sauce and lime juice and stir together.  Continue to stir, adding small amounts of cold water, until you have a dropping consistency.  Set aside.

Next, build each salad onto the plate starting with the salad leaves.  Create a small mound of these in the centre of the plate.

Divide the slices of tomato between the three plates, placing the tomato around the outside of the leaves.

Dot the salad leaves with cucumber half slices, then the grapes, then sprinkle the red onion over.

Add the beetroot wedges to the side of the plate.

Sprinkle everything with the mustard & cress.

Next, lay each fillet of chicken onto a foil lined baking sheet and cook under a hot grill (or broiler, if you're in the USA) until just cooked.  Turn the chicken over and cook the other side the same way.  This should only take 6-7 minutes each side.  Check the chicken is cooked through, by cutting into the thickest part and if you can see any sign of pinkness in the juices, put it back under the grill until the pinkness is gone.

Slice the chicken and lay it on top of the salad, while the chicken is still warm.

Drizzle spoonfuls of the satay sauce over the chicken and into the salad - be generous, as the sauce is divine.  

Garnish with a sprinkle of fresh parsley and the dry roasted peanuts.

Settle down somewhere cool - and tuck in!

Printable version

Sticky Hoisin chicken and red pepper with onion rice

Well, this one wasn't supposed to be like this at all.  However, the Chinese chicken traybake that I'd originally intended to make just wouldn't have suited our different requirements, so I bailed out at the last minute and made this up instead.  I think it turned into a very definite win.

As such, I can't give you chapter and verse as to how the recipe came about - I just made it up on the fly!  However, I will tell you that I was very impressed with myself for running two pots that required so much watching over and stirring, without burning either of them.  LOL  I must be improving!

Everyone loved this recipe and hubby even went so far as to declare it delicious and say that he was missing his deep fried King Prawn balls with sweet & sour sauce and prawn crackers that we normally have with a Chinese takeaway.  So that is high praise indeed.

If you're not used to juggling two pans, both of which require your attention, you can always just make plain boiled rice or alternatively buy a bag of egg fried rice from the supermarket to go with it.  However, it really isn't a difficult thing to get the two pans working well and fortuitously the action does seem to alternate from pan to pan!

As for any Cook's Tips, well the most important one is to ensure you have all your a-chopping and a-peeling done before anything hits a hot pan.  Getting a mise en place together in this way is worth dividends when you're cooking Chinese food as you really don't have time to stop and chop a pepper as you go!

It really is worth the 45 minutes of fairly intense cooking action involved in this one, to hear the admiring plaudits from your family as they tuck in happily.  So, onwards to the recipe!

STICKY HOISIN CHICKEN AND RED PEPPER WITH ONION RICE   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

For the chicken :

1 tbsp olive oil
3 chicken breasts, sliced
sea salt
ground black pepper
1 bunch spring onions, sliced diagonally
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely

1 red chilli, chopped
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
1 red pepper, cored and sliced
4 white mushrooms, sliced
200ml hot water
4 tbsp hoisin sauce

2 tbsp clear honey

1 tbsp light soy sauce.

For the rice :

2 individual tbsp olive oil
2 medium eggs, lightly mixed
0.5 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
sea salt
ground black pepper
1 large brown onion, chopped
200g white rice (I used Basmati), rinsed until the water runs clear

400ml good chicken stock

200g petit pois.

Method :

Begin by heating one tbsp of the olive oil for the rice in a wok set over a moderate heat.  Crack the eggs into a small bowl and add a pinch of sea salt, a pinch of black pepper and half a tsp of Chinese five spice powder.  Whip lightly with a fork.  Once the oil is hot, pour the egg into the wok and cook until an omelette has formed.  Ensure the egg is solid (you can flip the omelette over if you wish) and remove to a warmed plate and reserve.

Next, place 1 tbsp olive oil into both the wok (for the chicken) and a deep saucepan (for the rice).  Heat the wok over a hot heat and the saucepan over a moderate heat.  Once they are both hot, add the chicken to the wok and the brown onion to the saucepan, including a pinch of sea salt & black pepper to both.

Cook the chicken until it begins to caramelise, then turn and cook again until it again begins to caramelise.  It is not necessary to cook the chicken through at this stage, but it should have two golden sides, at least, after which remove from the pan and set aside somewhere warm.

Cook the onion until transparent and softened and just beginning to caramelise.

While the onion is cooking in the saucepan, add the spring onions, garlic, chilli and five spice to the wok and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.  Next, add the red pepper and white mushrooms to the wok and stir fry for another 2-3 minutes.  Add the water, cover the wok and bring to a boil.

In the meantime and while the water is coming to a boil in the wok, add the rinsed rice to the onion in the saucepan and stir to combine.  Add the chicken stock and cover the saucepan, bringing the contents to a gentle boil.  Allow the rice to cook approximately half way and add the petit pois.  Cook the rice until just al dente, after which turn off the heat, leave the lid on and allow the rice to steam until the chicken is ready.

Going back to the wok, uncover it and add the hoisin sauce, honey and soy sauce.  Stir through and bring to a frisky boil.  Re-introduce the chicken and stir through.  You are now just waiting for the liquid to reduce in the pan, to a sticky, coating sauce.  It's up to you how far you take it, I suggest you taste it as it reduces and stop when you're satisfied with the flavour and texture.

Finally, chop the omelette into small pieces and stir into the rice.

Serve onto warmed plates.  You can set aside some of the green parts of the spring onion and a few chilli slices for garnish, if you wish.

Printable version

Malay style chicken & peanut curry - silky, spicy and delicious

Well, this one worked out well!  

I think I shall call it a Malay style chicken & peanut curry as the basis of it was the recipe as below, but I halved the Thai curry paste and added the other half in Indian curry paste (a Korma paste) - so it wound up being a fusion of the two.  Knowing what a fusion of races now call Malaysia home, I think that represents Malaysia quite well.  

Original recipe : http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2838670/thai-pork-and-peanut-curry

I deviated from the original recipe in several different ways, the first being the addition of the Korma paste as I've already mentioned.  I added a red pepper, chopped into smallish dice, for colour and interest and a white sweet onion cut into eighths, the sweetness of which meant I could leave the soft brown sugar specified in the recipe, out.  I'm always keen, where I can, to reduce the amount of added sugar in dishes.  The sweet red pepper, the sweet onion, the baby sweetcorn, the coconut milk all have an inherent sweetness and I felt that the soft brown sugar would just take it too far.

It was mildly spiced so easy to pep up if you like it hotter and was jolly tasty.  Everyone said they'd be happy to have it again, only with rather less coriander, next time!  LOL  (I'm a bit heavy handed with the coriander, because I like it so much.  I forget that others aren't as keen!).

I've reproduced the recipe with my alterations below, but feel free to cook the original if you prefer the look of that!  I'm not precious about my recipes - they're there for you to use, change, adjust and develop as much or as little as you wish.

MALAY STYLE CHICKEN & PEANUT CURRY   (serves 3-4)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 skinless & boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks
ground black pepper 
1 sweet white onion, cut into eighths
bunch spring onions, sliced
small bunch coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves chopped
1 red pepper, cored and cut into dice
130g baby sweetcorn, halved lengthways
2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
2 tbsp Korma curry paste
2 tbsp peanut butter
400ml can coconut milk
1 tbsp soy sauce 
juice 1 lime.  

Method :

Heat the oil in a large and deep frying pan until very hot and carefully add the chicken chunks.  Fry them until lightly golden on at least two sides and season with black pepper.  Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the sweet onion, spring onions, coriander stalks, red pepper and baby sweetcorn to the pan and stir fry (adding a little more oil if necessary) until softened.

Return the chicken to the pan and reduce the heat slightly.

Add the Thai curry paste, the Korma curry paste and peanut butter and stir to combine.  Cook over a moderate heat for some 3 minutes or so, until well combined.

Add the coconut milk and soy sauce and stir gently.  Simmer for some 10 minutes or so until the sauce thickens to your preference.

Just prior to serving, add the lime juice (Half a lime at a time, then taste.  If necessary, add more) and stir in the chopped coriander leaves.

Serve with plain white rice, or jasmine rice.

Printable version

 

General Tso's chicken - a real crowd pleaser!

Now this is one recipe that I should have blogged a long time ago, as I've made it countless times since I discovered it on La Table de Nana.  As you may have guessed from the name, it sounds as though it should be of Chinese origin and to quote Wikipedia, "General Tso's chicken is a sweet, slightly spicy, deep-fried chicken dish that is popularly served in most Chinese and Asian themed American restaurants. The dish is most commonly regarded as a Hunanese dish.  The dish is named after General Tso Tsung-tang, or Zuo Zongtang, a Qing dynasty general and statesman, although there is no recorded connection to him".  So now you know.

I have to first deny all knowledge of deep frying my chicken.  You would have to pay me quite a lot to get me to deep fry anything, these days.   Not just from the health point of view, but um ~koff-blush~ I'm actually scared of deep frying.  I know.  I write a food blog and I'm scared of deep frying.  What can I tell you?  I think all those Public Information Films about the dangers of chip pan fires back in the seventies are still playing out in my head.

As a consequence, after velveting the chicken I just heat up a tablespoonful of oil in a wok and shallow fry to my heart's content.  The chicken still gets lovely and golden and I don't have a nervous conniption.  It's all good.

Served with coconut rice

The combination of goodies in the sauce is just an inspired thing.  Each contributes something to the final flavour(s) and it just wouldn't be right without any one of the ingredients.  Mind you, I do have to say that I don't use fresh ginger - as was recommended by the original recipe.  Both hubby and myself react badly to fresh ginger these days, whereas if I use ground (powdered) ginger, we're fine.  Yes, the flavour is slightly different, but we still get the ginger kick and flavour - so I'm not arguing.  I put the small amount of ginger into the sauce, where it incorporates nicely.

Something I would recommend highly to you - and yes, it could almost be construed as a Cook's Tip, is to invest in some authentic soy sauce.  If you can get them, both light soy and dark soy, as the difference in flavour to the small amounts of Blue Dragon, or even Kikkoman, is just incredible.  Once I'd invested in a large bottle of both, I wouldn't ever go back to "Westernised" soy sauce.  It's just a whole different ball game and you'll find you use far less as the flavour is so much more intense.

Cooked together with sliced green pepper

Okay, so while we're doing the tips, you absolutely must have everything chopped before you start.  This recipe moves so quickly once you begin cooking, that you definitely don't have time to leisurely chop a half a dozen spring onions.  It's a case of grab it and cook it so you need to have everything ready!

Oh, and it is nice to keep a certain amount of chopped green onion back for sprinkling over the top once served.  It definitely helps the dish to look fresh and tasty.  Unfortunately, I can't cope with raw spring (or green) onion, so I restrict myself to some toasted sesame seeds.

Served with a spring roll and some prawn crackers

Son and heir consistently finds the texture of the velveted chicken a surprise and requires reassurance that it is the cooking process, not the chicken, that has made it feel that way on the tongue.  As if I'd feed him dodgy chicken!  *tut*  The very idea.

Hubby and I, however, just love the recipe.  I've cooked it with toasted sesame seeds and without, with a sliced green pepper or mushrooms and without - in all sorts of incarnations - and we've loved them all.

As a super-quick meal to cook, you really can't do better than General Tso's chicken.  It's almost one of my favourite "bung it in the wok in order and serve" recipes.  If it wasn't for the fact that you cook the chicken first, then reserve it for later, it'd qualify.  But then, it's just another bowl to wash up and what's another bowl when dinner tastes so good?

GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN    (serves 3-4)

Ingredients :

½ cup soft brown sugar
3 tbsp hoisin sauce
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 flat teaspoonful of powdered ginger
a good pinch of dried red chili flakes (optional)
½ cup water
3-4 tablespoons cornstarch
500g boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
6-8 spring onions chopped
toasted sesame seeds (optional).

Method :

If you are intending on using toasted sesame seeds as garnish, now is the time to toast them.  Heat up your wok or frying pan and place the seeds in dry.  Keep an eye on them, as once they start to toast it happens quickly!  Once nicely brown and toasty, decant into a ramekin to use later.

Next, mix the brown sugar, hoisin sauce, rice wine vinegar, tomato ketchup, soy sauce, ginger powder, chili flakes (if you're using them, which I recommend you do!) and water together in a bowl.  This is your sauce, so set aside - but within reach!

Dredge the chicken chunks in the cornstarch and shake off any excess.

Heat the pan again and add the olive oil.  Cook the chicken in the olive oil briskly on a high heat until golden brown on at least two sides.  Remove the chicken and retain in a warm place.

Add a little more olive oil if necessary, plus the sesame oil and green onions (and any other veggies you might have thought to include). Cook until softened, then add the sauce and quickly bring to a boil.

Allow the mix to boil gently for as long as it takes for it to thicken slightly, then add the chicken and coat with sauce.  Reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has reduced to a glossy, syrupy consistency.

Serve with white rice, garnished with the toasted sesame seeds and some raw spring onion pieces.

Printable version

Five spice & honey chicken with mushroom noodle stir fry

Well this is the one that very nearly didn't happen.

The menu plan this week has had several different re-writings and re-shufflings largely due to circumstances changing at the last minute.  As a result, this recipe got bounced off the list, then I forgot to get something else out of the freezer and suddenly it was back on again!

I'm glad I made it though, as it was really rather good.

It's all part of my on-going love affair with the chicken leg.  As I've said before, I like chicken breast meat well enough - I just prefer the darker meat.  As our butcher sells 5 good sized chicken breasts for £5, I'd been having that right up until it suddenly dawned on me that if I bought a chicken leg at the same time, that amounts to two dinners (three breasts/two breasts & a leg) as opposed to one and a bit.  I know, I can't believe I didn't work this out sooner as well - but sometimes the obvious is the last thing we notice.
 

 All dressed in their spicy goo and ready for the oven

Well, I've done chicken in curry, chicken in citrus, chicken in a hat (alright, maybe not in a hat) but whatever there is to put chicken in, it feels like I've put it in it.  However, up until now, I hadn't investigated the Chinese 5 spice route.  Can't say that any more!

As I was pondering on what to put with the 5 spice, I had the dulcet tones of hubby running through my head.  He was expounding on the fact that "the Eastern thing is the balance of salty/sweet/ sour etc.", so I kind of went along with that - except I totally missed out the sour thing.  As they say in America, "so bite me".  (Except, I'd really rather you didn't, on the whole).  What I wound up with was the 5 spice for flavour, rapeseed oil to encourage the cooking and crisp up the skin on the chicken leg, honey for the sweet (and to caramelise slightly, which always looks great), soy sauce for the salty, a cheeky pinch of dried red chilli flakes for interest - and thought "that'll do!".  Yes, I could have gone the whole hog and added some lemon juice, or vinegar or some other source of sour, but I was interested to know how the unbalanced version would come out.  As it turned out, it was very nice indeed.  (Thank goodness!).

Stir fry ingredients : check. But where's the noodles?

So, what to put with it?  After all, a woman (or her menfolk) cannot live by chicken alone.  (More's the pity).  Well, with it being Chinese 5 spice, stir fry was the obvious choice and as we still had to settle on a carb. of some kind, a noodle stir fry made sense.
 

Yum - looks healthy!

Now I know that stir fry isn't right up there on son & heir's list of favourite foods, but it's good for him to re-visit foods he hasn't enjoyed, every so often.  He appears to be over his mushroom dislike of earlier years.  Which is just as well, as Asda - in their infinite wisdom - decided to send us a mushroom stir fry pack instead of the Edamame bean stir fry pack such as I'd ordered.  ~shrug~  Oh well, life is all about making the most of what you've got, so that's what we went with.  Of course, the extra mushrooms I'd bought to pad out the Edamame bean stir fry were a bit superfluous, but I chucked them in anyway.   I'd also ordered a pack of mange tout peas - some for the stir fry and some for a salad later in the week and they went in too.  They added a lovely sweet note to the veggies, which would have been a bit cabbage heavy without them.  Yes, Asda's "mushroom stir fry" turned out to be more of a "cabbage stir fry with the occasional mushroom", so it was good that I had a few extra.

At one time, I'd have been happy to have just had the veggies stir fried along with the chicken, but these days I think it is important to have a little carbohydrate in your main meal.  The end result of not having carbohydrates, is just that everyone starts reaching for the bread or crisps at around 8pm.  Truth be told, they do that anyway - but with rather less conviction if they've had carbs in their meal.  Now, because I was including noodles in the stir fry, this meant I needed to also come up with some kind of sauce to include in the wok which would lubricate the noodles and prevent that clagginess that they can sometimes have.  I'm not sure what I had against sour notes for this meal time, but they were very definitely off the menu as I decided to go with the classic dark soy sauce/light soy sauce/mirrin/fish sauce combo - which worked as perfectly as it always does.  This sauce combination gives such lovely colour to your stir fry and more to the point, gives a lovely rich flavour.

Now, a word must be had as regards oil.  If you've been reading along over the years, you'll know that I fairly recently eschewed the use of olive oil in favour of our lovely locally produced rapeseed oil - for the health benefits as much as anything.  As much as I love my rapeseed oil, it does have the unfortunate habit of spitting every flipping where if you use it at high temperature.  I've got a bit fed up with it doing that - and consequently ruining whatever I happen to be wearing at the time, as I've pretty much always forgotten to put an apron on.  We've always got sunflower oil in the house, as there are just some things that are better fried in sunflower than rapeseed (not many though, I'll grant you that!).  However with a stir fry, because the veggies are fried for so short a time it always feels as though the oil is much closer to the surface than with other types of cooking and consequently, you want an oil that has a lovely flavour.  My oil of choice is groundnut oil.  Not surprisingly, it has a lovely, light and delicate nuttiness that goes so well with stir fry dishes and complements curried dishes too, without any of the heaviness that accompanies a mixed vegetable oil or indeed olive or rapeseed.  If you haven't tried groundnut oil, I heartily recommend you get some in and give it a go.  Not as your everyday oil - you want something healthy and full of the lovely omega fats for that - but for stir fries and curries.  You'll be surprised.

So there we have it!  I don't have any special points to make as regards the cooking, as that is simplicity itself.  As regards the chicken, you can cook the breasts for the same time as the legs, so long as you remember to joint the leg portion.  Just cut across the hinge joint and separate it into a drumstick and a thigh.  That way it will cook a lot more quickly and correspond with the time it takes the breast to cook.

Use your own choice of stir fry veggies - they all take roughly the same amount of time to cook.  Just remember if you're adding any extra veg., to cut it into similar sized pieces so that it all cooks in the same time scale.  I sliced my mushrooms and cut the mange tout peas into three, which did the trick.

Mmmmn .... yummy chicken rules!


FIVE SPICE & HONEY CHICKEN with MUSHROOM NOODLE STIR FRY   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

3 chicken portions (I used 2 skinless boneless breasts and 1 leg)
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 tbsp runny honey
2 rounded tsp Chinese five spice
a good pinch of dried red chilli flakes
1 tbsp light soy sauce plus another 2 tbsp
a pinch of sea salt & ground black pepper
2 tbsp groundnut oil
4 large chestnut mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
40g mange tout, each cut into three pieces
400g pack of fresh stir fry vegetables (cabbage, carrot, beansprouts, pepper etc.)
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp mirrin
2 tsp grated ginger (from a jar, but feel free to use fresh)
3 sheets of dried egg noodles.

Method :

1.  Score the chicken breasts lightly across in a diamond pattern, to encourage the absorption of their marinade.  Score the leg portion similarly.

2.  In a bowl, mix together the rapeseed oil, honey, 5 spice, chilli flakes, 1 tbsp light soy sauce and some salt and pepper.   Add the chicken and toss until completely coated.  Allow to sit for as long as until you have the baking dish and veggies for the next stage prepared.

3.  Slice the mushrooms and mangetout and chop the garlic.

4.  Into a small bowl, add the 2 tbsp light soy sauce, the dark soy sauce, fish sauce, mirrin and ginger and stir to combine.

5.  Place the chicken onto a baking dish with a lip - as it will generate some liquid that you don't want to spill all over the kitchen floor - and place into a pre-heated oven at 190degF/375degC/Gas 5 for 30 minutes or as long as until the juices from the chicken run clear.

6.  When the chicken has just 15 minutes to go, bring a saucepan of water to the boil and add the groundnut oil to a wok.  Heat the oil until almost smoking, then add the sliced mushrooms and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.  Add the contents of the stir fry pack, the mangetout and the garlic and stir fry until tender.

7.  When the chicken has just 5 minutes to go, add the sheets of dried noodles to the boiling water and simmer for 4 minutes or until the noodles are soft.  Drain and return to the saucepan.

8.  Add the soy sauce/mirrin/fish sauce/ginger mixture to the wok and allow to frizzle and reduce whilst you add the noodles.  Toss and stir to make sure the noodles are coated in the sauce and vegetables.

9.  Remove the chicken from the oven and serve with the noodle stir fry alongside.

Printable version

Soy Braised Chicken with leeks - gentle sweet flavours

This lovely, gently flavoured dish was inspired by a photograph of a similar dish that I spotted in the BBC Good Food magazine this month.

As I recall, the original recipe had spring onions in it and as I don't do very well with spring onions - my tummy sometimes rejects them - and had a leek waiting for me to find it a job to do, it seemed a fairly obvious swap.

I'm still getting back into the swing of cooking following on from a nasty bout of the flu.  Hence, I didn't really want to get involved in a long cooking procedure - so this recipe turned out to be perfect.  If you do the entire process all in one go, you could probably be in the kitchen for some three hours or more - but I split it into various instalments.  Well, it gave me a chance to have a bit of "downtime" inbetween the action.

We had bought an organic chicken earlier in the week, to have at the weekend.  However, neither of us were in any fit state to be making roast chicken, so it had gone into the freezer.  So as to make the most of the price of the chicken, I decided to joint it and make a stock for soup with the carcass.  I reckoned that I could get at least three meals from the one chicken, that way.  In fact, we've had two main meals and two lunches - with a leg still left to be used!

Once we'd taken son & heir to school, I got on with jointing the chicken (which I'm getting a lot better at!).  It's not often that I get the opportunity to use organic chicken (although it would always be my first choice, if I could afford it) and this one was a beauty.  The knife went through the breast meat like a hot knife through butter, which bode well for the tenderness of the cooked chicken.  It wasn't a corn fed chicken, but the fat was a lovely deep yellow colour.  I was surprised at how bruised the breast meat appeared to be in places - but I figure that milling around outside with its pals, I guess a chicken is bound to get bumps and scrapes.

The two breast fillets, a drumstick and a thigh went into a cling film covered bowl with the marinade and into the fridge for later.

The remainder of the carcass went into the slow cooker with a couple of carrots, some celery, an onion and a garlic clove, plus some herbs and a good quantity of water and some seasoning.  There it stayed for the day, chuckling away and making some beautiful stock.  I eventually stripped the chicken of all the tiny little bits of meat and made a Jewish-style chicken soup with the stock, which I'll blog soon.
 
It was a late pickup from school that day, so I needed to put the casserole together before we left to collect son & heir.

The chicken smelled wonderful as I browned the pieces in the frying pan and my hopes for a great dinner rose a little bit further.

It really wasn't a difficult procedure to get the casserole together and I finished with 10 minutes to go.  We turned the oven on as we left to pick up son & heir.  Once we got home, it was an easy matter of cooking some rice and broccoli - and serving it all up.

I had debated thickening the sauce, but looking at it, it seemed to me as though it would entirely change the character of the dish to have the sauce thick.  It was supposed to be light and fluid - and there was broccoli and rice to soak it up with, so I took a chance and left it.  Hubby would have preferred it thicker - I was anticipating that - but I was very pleased with it.

I very much liked the gentle flavours provided by the soy, mirrin and honey - which added to the flavour of the leek and broad beans, made it a balanced dish.  Or so I thought, anyway.  Hubby doesn't like broad beans much and would have preferred the sweetness of peas, rather than that slight bitterness that an un-shucked broad bean brings.  Yes, perhaps I should have shucked the broad beans, but can I refer you back to the flu comment?  Just the thought of sitting there shucking broad beans was enough to almost send me back to bed.

Son & heir appeared to enjoy the flavours, although he did agree with his Dad about the bitterness from the broad beans.  I couldn't register said bitterness at all - all I could predominantly taste was the sweetness from the mirrin and honey, with the saltiness of the soy sauce!

So, I would advise caution when making this recipe.  If your family is very anti thin sauces or bitter flavours, perhaps you should consider thickening the sauce with a little cornflour and using peas instead of broad beans.  Alternatively, you could make something completely different!

I would be very happy to have this recipe again - although sadly I doubt I'll be making it in quite the same way.  Bye bye broad beans and hello cornflour!  *wink* 

SOY BRAISED CHICKEN WITH LEEKS   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

2 tbsp light soy sauce
3 tbsp mirrin
1 tbsp runny honey
a pinch of sea salt
2 boneless chicken breasts plus 1 thigh and 1 drumstick, skin on
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 leek, washed, halved lengthways and chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
100ml chicken stock
a good handful of frozen broad beans or peas.

Method :

1.  Put the soy sauce, mirrin, honey and sea salt into a bowl and stir to combine.

2.  Add the chicken pieces and stir to make sure they are all liberally covered with the marinade - then cover with cling film and leave for a minimum of half an hour.

3.  Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown the chicken pieces on a high heat.  Keep an eye on the chicken, as it will colour very quickly because of the sugars in the marinade.

4.  Once browned, place the chicken into a casserole dish.

5.  Add the onion to the frying pan and cook on a medium heat for 3-5 minutes, until softened.  Add the leek and ginger and stir to combine.

6.  Add the chicken stock and broad beans or peas.  Allow them to heat through and taste the sauce for seasoning.  If you think it is a little light on flavour or salt, add the remainder of the marinade and stir through.

7.  Decant the sauce and vegetables into the casserole dish, cover and put into a moderate oven (180degC/350degF/Gas 4) for 45 minutes to an hour.

8.  If, at the end of this time, you feel the sauce is either too liquid or not tasty enough, remove the chicken to a warmed bowl and cover with foil.  Either decant the sauce into a saucepan, or place the casserole dish (presuming it can cope with being on a direct heat) onto a gentle heat and reduce the sauce until it has reached a satisfactory consistency or the flavour has intensified sufficiently.

Serve with plain white rice and some steamed broccoli.

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Honey Sauced Chicken - simply scrummy

Last Wednesday was a bit of a busy one for us, as we'd fixed to go over to my parents' place in Hampshire (just the next county - not a million miles away!) to collect their compost bin.  As they are getting on in years, Mum (the gardener of the family) has decided that the sheer muscle power required to distribute said compost is just too much for her.  She won't let my Dad do that job (quite rightly!) as he's waiting on heart surgery this year.  So, they had a lovely big compost bin - complete with trapdoor at the bottom for ease of access, going spare.

We had to pick a day when son & heir was at school, as we weren't sure whether we could get the bin and the boy in the back of the car at the same time!

So, off we went - and were treated to some completely gorgeous home made soup for lunch.  It was a bacon & celeriac soup which went down very well indeed - and I shall pick up the recipe for it next time we see them.

As a result of all this, I didn't want to be spending a lot of time thrashing around in the kitchen making dinner that night.  I had chosen a recipe from www.mmmcafe.blogspot.com for Honey Sauced Chicken.  Initially, I had thought I'd use the slow cooker (crockpot) method that she detailed - right up until I realised that our slow cooker was just way too big for the amount of sauce she was talking about using.  I'm quite sure it would have shrivelled up and died, over the course of the day.

So then, I thought I'd go down the oven cooking route that she had detailed, right up until it occurred to me that you want the chicken to be completely covered in the sauce mixture, which should be thick and shiny - almost a glaze.  I wasn't completely convinced that I could achieve that with it out of sight in the oven.

Which is why I went completely off piste with the recipe and cooked it on the hob - with tremendous results.

Cooked this way, it became one of my most favoured quick and easy "sit and put things in order into the pan, hey presto, dinner!" recipes.  Well, except for the sacrilege (put your fingers into your ears people) of microwaving some frozen special fried rice to go with it.  Oh, for goodness' sake!  Surely you're not telling me that you don't use convenience foods like that from time to time?  No?  Oh well, I must just be a failure then.  *chuckle*

I agree to some extent - and given another day when I hadn't been so busy during the day, I'd have cooked the special fried rice from scratch.  Feel free to do so, by all means!  However, on this day, I was jolly glad to just heat up some frozen versions.

Son & heir was incredibly suspicious about this recipe.  He was convinced we'd already tried it - and he didn't like it - but I know that he's thinking of a stir fried recipe from quite a while ago, that contained vinegar.  He seems pathologically averse to vinegar in all its guises, shapes and forms.  In fact, the only vinegary thing that he does like - to my knowledge - is pickled onions and then only really nice ones.  I thought that we should be okay with this recipe as it didn't contain vinegar (note the "didn't").  In fact, because of the rampant honey sweetness that was partly balanced by the saltiness of the soy sauce, yet had no sourness to help combat it, I included a little cider vinegar which helped no end.  He declared the recipe "okay", by which I take him to mean "I ate it, wouldn't want it again tomorrow".  Fair enough.


Both hubby and I absolutely loved this dish.  I would quite happily have it again tomorrow, given the chance - and can see it becoming a good fall-back recipe for when son & heir is away on sleepover.


Next time, I think I'll include some kind of vegetable matter with it - maybe some steamed Bok Choi, or something along those lines.  Something that makes it more of a complete meal, as I can't help but miss my vegetables!


HONEY SAUCED CHICKEN  (feeds 3)


Ingredients :


1 tbsp olive oil
3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into thin slivers
sea salt & black pepper
quarter of a tsp of freshly ground black pepper
100ml of runny honey
50ml soy sauce
half a red onion, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp of tomato ketchup
1 tbsp of cider vinegar
1 clove of garlic, minced or grated
a quarter of a tsp red chilli flakes.

Method :

1.  In a small bowl, combine the freshly ground black pepper, honey, soy sauce, tomato ketchup, cider vinegar, garlic and chilli flakes.  Stir to ensure everything is evenly mixed.

2.  Heat the oil in a wide bottomed frying pan, then add the onion.  Cook on a gentle to medium heat until softened but not coloured.

3.  Add the chicken.  Sprinkle with black pepper and fry on a high heat until obviously browning - not just changing from pink to white.  You will need to stir well, but also leave the chicken to sit and brown, then stir well again to prevent the onion from burning.

4.  Once browned well, add the sauce and again stir to combine.  Turn the heat down to  medium and allow the sauce to simmer and bubble, reducing as it goes.  Keep stirring the chicken to prevent it catching on the bottom of the pan.


5.  Reduce the heat still further and allow the mixture to just chuckle gently in the pan until the sauce reaches a consistency that you are happy with.  Once the chicken is cooked through and tender, you can put a cover over the pan and turn the heat off while you get the rice onto the plates.


Serve.


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