Impromptu Oriental overnight chicken

Having been laid up with fever, a cough, cold and headache for the past 4-5 days, I decided it was finally time to summon my energy and cook myself dinner. I had defrosted some chicken earlier that day, and was pondering an Oriental chicken soup, some form of stir-fry, or perhaps a lemony chicken pasta. I couldn’t decide just yet, so I figured the first step should be to chop the chicken.

As I got to work, I received a Skype call from my boyfriend, who has also been ill, albeit with a stomach bug, so sadly without the option of cooking anything that is not plain rice. When he saw the pieces of chicken in front of me, he immediately exclaimed: ‘Stop! Don’t!’ … It turns out he had thoughtfully ordered chicken soup for me online, which was due to arrive ten minutes later.

As touched as I was by his gesture, and as delicious as the takeaway soup was, I was still left at a loss with my carefully chopped chicken. After researching various overnight marinades, I decided to do the following. It smells delicious so far!

Chop 3 large chicken breasts into small, bite-sized pieces and place in a bowl. Add the following:

–       2 tbsp lemon juice

–       2 tbsp sesame seeds

–       1 tsp garlic paste

–       1 tsp ginger paste

–       1 tbsp sugar

–       3 tbsp rice wine

–       1 tbsp black vinegar

–       1 tbsp sesame oil

–       ¼ cup soy sauce

–       A sprinkling of black pepper and chilli flakes

Mix everything together well, cover with cling film and place in fridge for a few hours, ideally overnight.

After marinating the chicken as described, I was really looking forward to cooking it. But how should I do it? I could grill it in the oven, fry it on the stove or even let it simmer in some stock.

I finally decided to simply fry it in a bit of vegetable oil, stir-frying it rapidly until it was cooked through (5-10 minutes). It was absolutely delicious, particularly when served with sticky rice.

I realise that food blogs are more enjoyable when there are good pictures to go along with the recipes, so I shall try to remember to take photos before eating everything!

This marinade is a mix of the following two recipes:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/05/asian-grilled-chicken-33-pts_3510.html

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/teriyaki-sauce-and-marinade/Detail.aspx

More to follow soon, thanks for reading!