This is one of my favourite recipes, its quick,easy, cheap and pretty healthy. It was one of the main dishes I lived off of at uni and I have made it for a few people who love it. I have been asked for a step by step recipe, so here it is!
Feeds 4 people.
Ingredients:
- 1 red and 1 yellow pepper (I tend to use both as it makes the dish more colourful).
- 2 onions.
- 3-4 Spring onions.
- 1 stick of lemon grass.
- 1 chilli
- Pak Choi
- 2 handfuls of bean sprouts.
- Fresh and ground ginger.
- 2 cloves of garlic.
- Sesame seeds and/or Sesame seed oil.
- Dark and light soy sauce.
- 1 teaspoon of sugar.
- 2 chicken breasts.
- Straight to wok noodles.
First of all put 2 tablespoons of the dark soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of the light soy sauce and the sugar in the wok. Mix it slowly over a very low heat. This helps to make the basis of your sauce sweet and sticky (at least that's how I like it). Add the chicken which will be cut into rough pieces. Let the chicken brown off making sure every piece gets completely coated in the sauce.
Whilst the chicken is cooking; dice the spring onion, garlic and lemon grass and add to the wok. When preparing the lemon, I tend to peel the first layer off and leave the top and end as it can be quite tough and woody.
Then chop the onion and pepper, I tend to chop the onion into half moon shapes and the pepper into strips rather than dicing. I prefer a bit of a crunch to them, if you would rather your peppers soft, cut them small and they will cook faster. Once all of these are added to the wok turn up the heat up and keep mixing everything. It is very important to keep it all moving else it will burn and stick.
At this point add the ground ginger, you don't need too much otherwise it will blow your head off! Then, whilst still keeping it moving, dee-seed and very finely chop the chilly and mix in well, making sure it is evenly distributed. Add a quick drizzle of the sesame seed oil whilst doing so.
Note: After chopping up a chilly don't be a Muppet like me and rub your eyes, I some how manage to do it every single time and it burns!
Once everything is mixed in and the onions and peppers have softened slightly (and eyes have stopped burning) add the bean sprouts and the noodles. I use straight to wok noodles as its much quicker and easier when you are in full time work/student. Then add the Pak Choi, which adds a much more peppery flavour overall, (cut in to long strips, not too thin as they will shrink as they cook). Stir for a further few minutes until the pak choi is soft. Mix thoroughly until the noodles are heated through, then serve straight away whilst its still piping hot!
When dishing up I love to use these bowls (see below). The fish bowl (left) was a birthday present from one of my good friends. The ones on the right used to belong to my great grand mother who brought them back from China and left them to us. I think its only right that we keep using them, I'd hate to see them un-used.
Finish off the dish with a few fine ribbons of fresh ginger on top and a sprinkle of sesame seed, not only does it taste good, it looks pretty good to!! Grab a pair of chopsticks (or fork if you would prefer) and enjoy!
Other ideas for the dish:
- Add some fresh large prawns just after the chicken has browned to add a bit of extra flavour.
- You can always add a broth to the dish, whether if be a normal vegetable stock or a Miso soup (something my boyfriend loves), it makes it very warming in the winter and a tasty alternative to chicken soup if you have a cold. Plus its a pretty healthy meal in general.
- And obviously to make this a veggie dish just take out the chicken, add as much veg as you want and experiment.
- As a student you can always use frozen veg which is cheaper, however its always a good idea to look around in your area for any farmers markets. You will have to get up pretty early as they tend to end around 9am but it is so worth it as its the freshest veg and pretty cheap.
I'd love to hear back from anyone who tries this, any feedback is greatly appreciated!
Enjoy!!
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