Sweet Chicken and Sesame Seed Stir Fry with Soy Salad

Isn’t BBC GoodFood just marvellous? One can just visit the site and type in any ingredient and it’ll give you a list of every recipe in which it is included. It’s simply ideal for those moments where one’s imagination fails and some guidance really is necessary. If you haven’t visited the site I implore you to do so, especially the Americans who read this blog – I can’t imagine you’ve had an awful lot to do with the BBC. This recipe is actually taken from the BBC GoodFood magazine, which my Grandmother receives once a month – she reads it, cuts out the recipes she likes and then passes the magazine onto me. This is fortunate, as my esteemed elder doesn’t really go for the more adventurous dishes, being somewhat traditionalist.

This dish itself is incredibly light and healthy – the chicken provides a good amount of protein, yet very little fat; the sesame seeds are incredibly good for you, containing a number of vitamins and minerals – they also help to reduce levels of blood cholesterol. Anyway, since this isn’t a health blog I shall move on to the flavour. As one can imagine the honey in this dish gives a lovely, natural sweetness to the dish which, when acted upon by the lime juice, produces a rather oxymoronic sharp sweetness. I realise that not everyone enjoys the sesame flavour a great deal, but fear not, the seeds really don’t give a distinct and powerful flavour. Instead, they are rather subtle in their taste and simply add a certain nutty quality to the dish. One thing I should point out it that these noodles really ought to be served with a few sprigs of fresh coriander, I’m afraid we hadn’t any at the time of cooking.

Sweet Chicken and Sesame Seed Stir Fry

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 block of dried egg noodles, or the fresh equivalent

• 2 chicken breasts

• A handful of beansprouts

• 4 tbsp honey

• 2 tbsp soy sauce, extra to serve

• Juice of 2 limes

• 3 tbsp sesame seeds, extra to serving

• Sprigs of fresh coriander to serve

Method:

1. If you can pre-marinate the chicken in the soy sauce, honey and sesame seeds. Boil the noodles as per their instructions. Fry the chicken and marinade in a wok for 5 minutes, this should give it time to cook and caramelize. Add the beansprouts and the juice of 1 lime. When the noodles are cooked add them to the wok and continue to stir fry until all is hot through. Serve in a bowl, sprinkle with extra sesame seeds and a dash more lime juice and soy sauce. Place a few sprigs of coriander on the top.

Soy Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 large red onion, thinly sliced

• 1 large red pepper, thinly sliced

• 1 broccoli, cut into florets

• A good glug of soy sauce

• Oil

• Seasoning

Method:

1. Boil the broccoli in water until almost cooked. Sauté everything together until hot, but not soggy. Serve in a salad bowl.

Cost: The stir fry alone should cost around 80p per portion, although this will be slightly higher if the participants in the meal require more meat. The price for the entire soy salad really should be next to nothing, perhaps no more than £1.10. So, the entire meal works out at only just over £1 per portion. Fantastic, eh?