Hoisin Chinese chicken

This is AH-MA-ZING. Well, I think so anyway. I usually hate Chinese but this....

My dad is the best chef i know and it's basically impossible for him to craft a bad dish so I though i'd ask him to make me a Chinese and see if he could get me to like it.

After him making this so many times I decided, Right. It's time to bank this recipe. So much healthier and less oily or greasy than the normal Chinese takeaways yet so flavourful and texture-ous( Don't ask what that word is ).

Hoisin Chinese chicken

Serves: 2

Ingredients

For the sauce

• 30g hoisin sauce

• 2tbsp soy sauce

• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced

• one inch of ginger, peeled and finely minced

• 50ml sherry

• 3 large pinches of brown sugar

• huge squeeze of sriracha, to taste

For the breading

• 2 tsp nigella seeds

• 1tbsp chilli flakes

• 40g cornstarch

• 4g crushed corriander seeds

• 3g garlic powder

• 3g onion granuels

• 1g all spice

• salt and pepper, to your preference

For the stir fry

• 1 small red onion

• 1 small red pepper

• 2 chicken breasts (about 300g)

• 3tbsp groundnut oil (IMPORTANT that it is ground nut oil!)

• 2 handfuls of roasted chases, to serve

• 2 spring onions, sliced diagonally to serve

• *sesame oil, lime and Sriracha, to serve

Method

- First, mix all the sauce ingredients together in a measuring cup or bowl. Set aside.

- Chop up the vegetables. Set aside.

- Mix together the breading ingredients in a shallow bowl. Dice the chicken breasts into chunks( make sure the chunks aren't too big!) Roll the chicken in the breading mix, try to get as much as the spices in the breading onto the chicken.

- Heat the oil on medium-high in a large, medium-deep frying pan. Leave the oil for 1-2 minutes, but not too long. Add the chicken to the pan and briefly stir around in the oil to coat. Cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes then lift the lid and gently stir the chicken around, but be careful not to over stir as the chicken will lose the crispiness.

- Cover the chicken again with a lid and let it cook a further 5 minutes. Keep doing this until the chicken looks golden and crispy. Remove from the pan and set aside.

- Add the vegetables to the same pan, saving the diagonally sliced spring onions for later. Cook for about 3 minutes so they are tender with a bit of crunch.

- Add the sauce and allow it to bubble. Stir the vegetables so the sauce coats them. Let it bubble until it has reduced slightly to a thicker sauce. Remove from the heat.

- divide the rice ( I used lime and coriander rice by Tilda since i think it compliments this dish really well) between two plates. Spoon the chicken on top and pour over the sauce. You can mix the chicken in with the sauce while it cooks however the chicken will lose it's crunchiness. Sprinkle over the cashews and remaining spring onions.

*For extra flavour, drizzle over sesame oil and Sriracha for extra spice and a squeeze of lime to freshen the favours a bit. Or, ya know, just serve it as it is :D