When you’re trying to be good but you REALLLLLY want a Chinese.. why not make one instead? I know you’re thinking “yeah but it’s just not as good”, but these recipes are really yummy and you’ll feel better in yourself that you’ve made the effort to cook something that is definitely better for you than an actual takeaway, and it’ll probably save you some pennies too!

Each of these recipes are great on their own or why not have a feast and make all 3 together! They use similar ingredients which means less wastage so it’d be rude not to try them all. Give them a go and let me know what you think.

Sticky Chilli Chicken with Salt & Pepper Chips

This recipe was from my Gousto box so as always it didn’t disappoint! The ingredients are all easy to find though and it only takes about 40 mins to prep & cook. I’ve not been let down by Gousto yet and like to get a box every month or so. If you want to give Gousto a try, use my discount code here and get your first box half price!

Ingredients (2 people):

Method;

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/ 180°C (fan)/ 395°F/ Gas 6. Cut the potatoes (skins on) into chips. Add the chips to a baking tray with half of the five-spice mix, a generous drizzle of vegetable oil, 1/2 tsp sugar and lots of salt and pepper. Give everything a good mix up and put the tray in the oven for 20-25 min or until golden and crisp.
2. While the chips are cooking, heat a large, wide-based pan (preferably non-stick) with a very large drizzle of vegetable oil over a medium-high heat. Add the diced chicken thighs to a bowl with the cornflour and give it a good mix up until all the chicken is coated.
3. Once the pan is very hot, add the coated chicken along with half of the soy sauce (save the rest for later!) and cook for 5-6 min on each side until golden and crispy and the chicken is cooked through (no pink meat!) – this is your crispy chicken. Once crispy, transfer to a plate and set aside and reserve the pan.
4. Cut the red pepper in half (scrape the seeds and pith out with a teaspoon) and chop into small cubes. Peel and finely chop (or grate) the garlic. Peel (scrape the skin off with a teaspoon) and finely chop (or grate) the ginger. Finely slice the red chilli into rounds. Trim, then finely slice the spring onion.
5. Return the reserved pan to a medium-high heat with any remaining oil. Add the chopped red pepper, ginger and half of the chopped garlic (save the rest for later!) and cook for 3-4 min or until fragrant. Meanwhile, add the remaining soy sauce to a bowl with the honey, chilli jam and Chinese rice wine sticky chilli sauce.
6. Add the sticky chilli sauce to the pan and cook for 3 min or until the sauce begins to thicken and the pepper has softened. While the sauce thickens, chop the coriander finely, including the stalks. Once thickened, add the crispy chicken to the pan and cook for 1 min further until the chicken is coated in the sauce – this is your sticky chilli chicken.
7. Once the chips are cooked, add the remaining chopped garlic, chopped spring onion and chilli rounds to the tray and give everything a good mix up – these are your salt & pepper chips.
8. Serve the sticky chilli chicken with the salt & pepper chips to the side. Garnish with the chopped coriander. Enjoy!

Crying Tiger Beef

A super quick recipe to make – this is great on it’s own or why not make it with the salt & pepper chips above, or do what we did and make it with the chicken fried rice below. This recipe is from the 2nd Pinch of Nom book – everyday light.

Ingredients (2 people);

• 2 extra-lean medallion steaks
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce of Henderson’s relish
• Ground pepper, to taste
• 20g fresh coriander, stalks and leaves finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, finely diced
• 2 chillies, finely chopped or 2 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1 spring onion, trimmed and finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp lime or lemon juice
• 2 tsp granulated sugar

Method:

1. Place the steaks in a bowl. Pour over the soy sauce and Worcestershire/Henderson’s sauce, season with some black pepper and leave to marinate for a few minutes whilst you make your dressing.
2. Mix together all the dressing ingredients (highlight above) in a bowl.
3. Place a frying pan over a medium heat with some oil in. Once the oil is hot, place the steaks in a the pan and pour the marinade left in the bowl on top.
4. Cook the steaks to your preference, the exact times will vary depending on the thickness of your steals but it will be around 2 minutes each side for rare, 3 each side for medium and 4 each side for well done.
5. Once cooked, take the meat out of the an and leave to rest a few minutes before slicing and serving with the dressing.

Chicken Fried Rice

We made this Chinese-Caribbean fusion recipe out of the Original Flava book, a cookbook we are really enjoying at the moment. We had this with our Crying Tiger Beef above, and had lots leftover to freeze!

Ingredients (4 people);

• 4 skinless chicken breast fillets, diced
• Salt & ground pepper
• 1 tbsp Chinese five-spice mix
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper (or a normal chilli if you don’t want it too hot), diced
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 300g frozen peas
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 500g cooked white rice (200g uncooked)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp all-purpose seasoning
• 2 tbsp soy sauce

Method;

1. Throw the diced chicken into a bowl and season with the salt, black pepper and Chinese five-spice.
2. Pour 1 tbsp of oil into a frying pan or wok over a medium heat, chuck in the chicken and cook for around 3 minutes until browned on all side, then remove from the pan.
3. Pour 2 tbsp oil in the pan, add the onion, spring onions, scotch bonnet, paprika, thyme, garlic and ginger and cook for around 5 – 7 minutes. Add the beaten eggs and mix, then add the frozen peas and toss around for 3 minutes.
4. Add the chicken back into the pan with the sesame oil and cook down for 3 minutes.
5. Add the cooked rice, butter, all-purpose seasoning and soy sauce to the pan and stir until all the ingredients are mixed into the rice. Cook for 5 minutes over a low heat until everything is combined and warmed through.

Well I hope I have given you some lockdown cooking inspiration, these dishes really are too tasty to miss out on 🙂

Let me know what you think about the recipes and share your comments and photos with me across my social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Happy munching 🙂

Jen@jensfoodblog

#jensfoodblog

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