Chicken Fried Rice

There is only me to cook for this weekend, the wife has gone to sunnier climes on a Hen weekend, whilst I remain here in the rain decorating. There is no picture today as the camera is with my wife in sunnier climes and the laptop will not discover my phone

Cost - Approx £1.00
serves 1
Ingredients:

• 200g of chilled boiled rice
• 1 Chicken Breast - cut into small pieces
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 5 closed cap mushrooms finely chopped
• 1 small chili finely chopped
• 2 TBLSP of Soy Sauce
• 1 TBLSP of rice wine vinegar
• 1 TSP of Chinese Five Spice
• 3 TBLSP of oil for frying

Method:

• Trim the chicken of any fat and cut into small pieces
• Heat 1 TBLSP of oil in a frying pan, and over a high heat cook the chicken through
• Add the mushrooms, garlic, five spice and chillies and cook on a high heat for 1 minute
• Add the remaining oil and heat, then add the rice and the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar and cook through until pipping hot, stirring all the time

Deep Fried Crispy Chicken Bites and Mushroom Fried Rice

The Finished Meal

Ingredients:

• 450g of Chicken
• 5 TBLSP of cornflour
• 1 TBLSP of oil
• Oil for deep frying
• 3 TBLSP of oil for frying the rice
• 1 TSP of ground white pepper
• 500g of chilled cooked long grain rice
• 2 TSP of Chinese Five Spice
• 1 Chile deseeded and finely chopped
• 3 TBLSP of soy sauce
• 100g of closed cup mushrooms finely chopped
• Sweet Chillies sauce to dip

Method:

• Heat the oil in the pan used for deep frying, also pre-heat the oven to 160 Degree's C to keep the chicken warm whilst cooking in batches
• Trim the chicken of any fat and cut into bite sized pieces
• Add the 1 TBLSP of oil to the chopped chicken and mix well
• Add the pepper to the chopped chicken and mix well
• Add 3 TBLSP of the cornflour to the chicken and mix well to cover the chicken
• Just before frying the chicken add the rest of the cornflour and mix well
• Add the chicken in batches and deep fry until golden brown and the chicken cooked through
• Remove and keep warm in the oven on the grill rack
• Heat 1 TBLSP of oil in frying pan
• Add the chopped mushroom and the Chinese Five Spice powder and fry on a high heat for 2 minutes
• Add the chillies and fry for another minute
• Add the rest of the oil
• Add the rice and stir well
• Add the soy sauce and stir well to coat the grains of rice, moving the rice all the time, until the rice is cooked through and hot
• Serve with a sweet Chile sauce dip and enjoy !

Quick and Easy Tea - Sweet and Spicy Chicken Breast Strips with Fried Mushroom Rice

Last night's meal was a great success, not a single morsel left on any of the plates, with fantastic comments for the steak and ale pie.
I needed a quick tea tonight, as we didn't get home until late, and I did not want to arrive home and say "lets order a take-away", most of which ends up in the recycling food bin - as it is not really good food from our local take-away, plus it defeats the purpose of trying to save money and waste on food. So a quick browse on the internet, I came upon what appears to be a rather nice recipe - http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/9811/sweet-and-spicy-chicken.aspx - so credit must go to the cook who posted this, as it is absolutely fantastic.

So I have gone through the bag of chicken breasts I got on my last Tesco's order, and I have taken out the ones with the least weight to use for tea tonight, to use the larger on for something else.

This dish is only quick if you prepare things in advance, i.e. rice cooked, chicken cut, sauce made, chillies, garlic and ginger chopped - all ready just for assembly.

Note - while the recipe below is for two people, the original recipe is for four people.

Cost - approx £1.50p
Serves - 2 people

Ingredients:

For the fried rice:

• 100g of long grain rice
• 1 TBLSP of olive oil
• 150g of closed cup mushrooms - wiped clean and finely chopped
• 3 TBLSP soy sauce
• 2 TSP of Chinese five spice
• 1 medium chilli - deseeded and finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

For the sauce:

• 1 TBLSP dark brown soft sugar
• 2 TBLSP honey
• 4 TBLSP soy sauce
• 2 TSP fresh root ginger finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 2 TBSLP hot sweet chilli sauce

For the chicken:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets, cut into 1cm strips
• 1 TBLSP vegetable oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Method the fried rice:

Tip - Make the rice ahead of time, as it needs to be cold.

• Cover rice with water
• Bring it to the boil
• Once the water is boiling reduce the heat to as low as possible and simmer until the rice is cooked
• Rinse and drain the rice under cold water
• Store the boiled rice in a food container and put in the fridge

Method for the sauce:

• Mix together dark brown soft sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and hot sauce in a small bowl and set aside

Method for the chicken:

• Trim the chicken if required
• Cut the chicken into strips, place chicken in a bowl, add the oil and mix - the oil just stops the strips sticking together
• Lightly salt and pepper the chicken strips

Cooking the meal:

• Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add chicken strips and brown on both sides
• Pour the sauce over the chicken. Simmer uncovered until the sauce reduces and thickens, 8 to 10 minutes
• Whilst the chicken is simmering, in a separate frying pan, add some olive oil, and add cook the mushrooms for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic, chilies and five spice and cook for one minute
• Add the rice and the soy sauce, and cook on a high heat, stirring all the time until the rice is cooked through and piping hot
• Serve the chicken and the rice, enjoy..

The finished meal

Smoked Kippers

We are having some beautiful Scottish smoked kippers tonight, on homemade toasted bread with poached eggs and cold savoury rice. This is a very cheap meal, but delicious meal. So here is tonight's recipe.

Cost - approx £1.00 per person
Serves 2

Ingredients

 For the kippers:

• 2 Smoked kippers
• 1 TBLSP of plain flour
• 1 TBLSP of butter
• Pepper to taste

For the poached eggs:

• 1 TBLSP of vinegar
• 2 Eggs

For the bread:

• 2 slices of thick bread
• Butter

For the savoury rice:

• 100g of long grain rice
• 1 onion finely chopped
• Two tablespoons of oil
• One clove of garlic, chopped finely
• 5 closed cup mushrooms - wiped clean and finely chopped
• One vegetable stock cube
• Pepper to taste *
• 300 ml boiling water **
• Pinch of turmeric

* Note I have not included salt and this will come from the stock cube
** You may need more water, just keep adding a small bit at a time if you do

Method for Savoury Rice

Ingredients for the savoury rice

• In a pan give the rice a quick wash and drain
• Add the water, turmeric and vegetable stock cube to the pan
• Place the pan on a medium heat, with the lid on, stirring once in a while
• When the water is bubbling, move the rice to the lowest heat possible and cook
• Keep a check on the water and top up if required, you are looking for the rice to be soft and the water absorbed
• Whilst the rice is cooking, gently fry the onions, garlic until very soft and translucent about 5 minutes, do not let them brown

The fried onion, garlic and mushrooms

• Add the chopped mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes
• When the rice is ready, add the fried onions, garlic and mushrooms to the rice and stir well, season with pepper
• Now the trick is to cool the rice quickly for food safety reasons. Place the rice mix in a large bowl and set aside for 10 minutes, turning every few minutes
• Place the rice in the fridge

The finished savoury rice

Method for the kippers

• Add the flour and the pepper to a bowl and mix well
• Dredge the kippers in the flour on both sides
• Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the kippers to your preference *

*We like ours very well done

Kippers

Method for the poached egg

• Whilst the kippers are cooking, bring a small pan of water to a rolling boil
• Add the vinegar and turn the pan down to simmering
• Add the eggs
• Cook for 3 minutes
• Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper
• Whilst the eggs are cooking toast the bread and then butter

The eggs poaching

Finally assemble the meal and enjoy. Note. Before serving the chilled rice, get a knife or fork and gently separate the grains by tuning it through the rice as the grains will have stuck together during chilling.

The final meal