Chinese Chicken with Garlic and Cashew Nuts, Egg Fried Rice

Everyone loves a Chinese right? I have tried to recreate a Chinese takeaway with this recipe and it was a great success. The best thing about it is it does not contain any nasties that you often hear about hiding within Chinese food from the local takeaway. The crunchy chicken is smothered in a soy and garlic sauce and served with easy egg fried rice. The trick to a perfect stir fry is preparation. It is such a quick and hot method of cooking that you need to have prepared all of the ingredients beforehand so when you come to cook it, it comes together really quickly. I also accompanied my fakeaway Chinese with prawn crackers on the side. Almost as quick as ordering in, cheaper and just as tasty, give it a go the next time you fancy a Chinese!

RECIPE

SERVES 2-3

Difficulty Level: Home Cook

Ingredients:

For the chicken:

3 chicken breasts, cut into even chunks
1 egg, beaten
5 heaped tablespoons cornflour
1 teaspoon of garlic powder, white pepper, Chinese five spice and salt
Sunflower oil

For the sauce:

5 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
4-5 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped (or grate them)
1 thumb sized piece ginger, grated
Pinch hot dried chilli flakes, or 3-4 whole dried chillies (leave out if you don’t like heat at all- but it gives a warmth rather than a huge spiciness)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
Teaspoon of white pepper
Tablespoon mirin
Tablespoon palm sugar (or brown sugar)
Tablespoon sesame oil
1 chicken stock cube
1 heaped tablespoon cornflour
2 large handfuls of Cashew Nuts
1 Pepper, finely sliced
3-4 spring Onion, chopped into 3 inch pieces
Packet of baby sweet corn

For the rice:

1 mugful white rice
1 large egg, beaten
1 spring Onion, finely sliced
1 tablespoon soy sauce (dark or light)
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Method:

First, make the rice. Pour your mugful of rice into a sieve and rinse with cold water for one minute. Boil the kettle. Pour the rice into a pan and follow with double the quantity of boiling water (1 mug of rice to 2 mugs of boiling water). Add salt and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat to low, stir the rice once and put the lid on. Leave for around 8 minutes until the rice is cooked. You shouldn’t need to drain any water off, but do so if needed. Rinse the rice under cold water and leave to cool.

2. Next prepare the sauce. Add all the ingredients into a jug, apart from the stock cube and cornflour. Crumble half the stock cube into 150ml boiling water and add this to the jug. Mix the cornflour with 1 tablespoon of cold water and pout into the jug.

3. Chop your vegetables and keep them to the side.

4. Slice up the chicken. Crack the egg on to a plate and use a fork to beat the egg. On another plate, place the cornflour, five spice, garlic powder, white pepper and salt. Dip the chicken pieces in the cornflour, then the egg and back into the cornflour.

5. Heat a wok or large frying pan over a high heat. Add a good glug of sunflower oil to cover the bottom of the pan about an inch high. Allow to heat up for 2 minutes.

6. Add the chicken pieces and allow to fry until golden and crisp on both sides. Try not to move around the chicken too much and only turn over when it has a deep golden colour to it. This will take around 5-8 minutes.

7. Remove the chicken from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.

8. Put another smaller frying pan over a low heat. Add a splash of sunflower oil and the beaten egg. Allow to sit and cook slowly until set. Once set, add the rice and increase the heat to high. Add the soy sauce, sesame oil and spring Onion to the pan and stir fry for around a minute until it all comes together and the egg is broken up throughout the rice.

9. Try and do this step simultaneously with step number 8. Pour out the oil from the chicken pan, leaving just a slight covering. Put the pan back on the heat. Add the baby sweet corn, peppers and spring onions and stir fry (move the vegetables around constantly) for 1 minute. Add the chicken back into the pan followed by the sauce in the jug. Allow to simmer for around 3 minutes until saucy, thickened slightly and glossy. Add the cashew nuts and stir through. Taste to adjust any flavour- it may need some extra rice vinegar or white wine vinegar to balance the saltiness. Add more water if it has reduced too much.

10. To serve the rice in a dome, spoon rice into a small mug or ramekin and upturn on to your plate. Surround with the chicken and serve with prawn crackers!

Tips

Make it veggie: omit the chicken and add extra veggies such as sliced mushrooms, sliced carrot batons, cabbage or red onion. Add tofu for some veggie protein