Gong Hey Fat Choy

Welcome to the Chinese Year of the Horse. Apparently this is a good year for travel, health and wealth which sounds pretty darn good to me. I have lots of trips planned over the coming months so I guess I’m off to a pretty good start already!

Seeing as this year is apparently going to be so good to us, it only seems fair to bring it in in style and that’s where this delicious little number comes in. I don’t usually do a lot of Asian cooking in our house, my boyfriend Alex specialises in south-east Asian food so I usually steer well clear but I thought I’d give it a whirl this weekend and we were both incredibly glad I did.

We were both pretty tired last night so I wanted something that was quick and easy but that also had bags of flavour. I also wanted to be able to grab everything we needed from a quick dash to waitrose – Chinatown was seeming far to far away. I had a quick skim through a couple of recipe books and found a recipe that i then adapted into what you see here, tender sticky chicken fresh with ginger and chilli, served with an addictively crunchy and bright cucumber salad. So quick and so healthy.  To make it a bit more substantial (especially good if you’re cooking for boys) serve this with some jasmine rice as well. If you’re looking for a way to ring in Chinese New Year or if you just fancy something scrumptious for dinner tonight, have a crack at this, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Sticky Soy Glazed Chicken – Serves 4

2 tbsp groundnut oil

8 free range, bone in, skinless chicken thighs

2 big cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced

2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced

6 spring onions, 4 into finely sliced rounds, 2 in long diagonal slices

8 tbsp water

1 generous tbsp runny honey

6 tbsp light soy sauce

3 1/2 fresh red chillis, de-seeded and finely sliced

celery leaves to garnish (optional)

Heat up the oil in a wok (or a big frying pan if you’re wok-less) over a high heat. Brown the chicken thighs all over, you may have to do this in batches, depending on the size of the wok. Once this is done, set the chicken thighs aside and fry off the ginger, garlic, chilli and the 4 sliced spring onions for 2-3 minutes until softened.

Then add the chicken back into the pan and toss everything together. Mix together the water, honey and soy and add it to the pan.

Bring to the boil and cover with either a lid or some foil and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the lid/foil and turn the chicken thighs over. Continue to cook them until the liquid has reduced to a sticky glazey coating on the chicken.

Before popping on a serving plate and sprinkling over the 2 remaining sliced spring onions and celery leaves – how easy was that?

Allow the chicken to rest for a few minutes before devouring.

Zingy cucumber salad – serves 4 (or in our case, 2)

1 large or 2 small cucumbers

1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 a fresh red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped

2 finely sliced spring onions

3 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp light soy sauce

1 tsp caster sugar

pinch of sea salt

Peel and chop the end off the cucumber(s), then take a teaspoon and scrape out the seeds. Slice the cucumbers on an angle and pop them into a bowl with the chilli, garlic and spring onions. In a separate bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients to make the dressing before pouring over the cucumber mixture a few minutes before serving.

So yummy, you’ll wish you’d made more. Have a great weekend everyone xx