Sticky Chinese Apricot Chicken

Chinese-inspired Apricot Chicken

Serves: 2

Ingredients

For the stir fry

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks

• 1/2 red onion, finely diced

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 heaped tsp ginger, grated

• 1 small red pepper, sliced

• 3 tbsp groundnut oil

For the breading

• 2 heaped tsp ground ginger

• 3 tsp Chinese 5 spice

• 2 tsp garlic granules

• 2 tsp onion granules

• 1tsp hot chilli powder

• salt and black pepper ( be generous with the black pepper! )

• cornstarch, enough to fully coat the chicken

For the sauce

• 25ml soy sauce

• 50ml sherry

• 20ml sherry vinegar

• 15g brown sugar ( I used 7g brown sugar with stevia )

• 1 heaped tsp honey honey ( I used 1 1/2 tsp honey with stevia )

• 50g apricot jam ( I made my own with reduced sugar and halved, using sugar with stevia )

• 30g Sriracha sauce ( more or less, to taste )

• 50ml orange juice/lime juice

• coriander, orange zest/lime wedges and toasted cashew nuts, to serve

• lime and coriander rice, to serve

Method

- Prepare all your vegetables.

- Mix all the breading ingredients and add the chicken chunks to it. Make sure the mix coats all of the chicken.

- Heat the oil in a large frying pan that has a lid ( or you can just put tin foil over but it's a bit of a faff), over a medium high heat.

- Once the oil is hot, add the chicken to the pan. stir very briefly then cover. After about 1minute of cooking lift the lid and stir gently so all sides of the chicken are cooked. Keep doing this until the breading has gone dark and crispy, about 8-10 minutes.

- Remove from the heat and keep covered.

- Meanwhile, Fry the garlic and ginger over a medium-high heat. Once fragrant, add the vegetables and fry until softened slightly, about 3-4 minutes. Remove them to a plate.

- Make the sauce by simply whisking everything together.

- In the same pan, add the sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Stir occasionally to ensure the sauce doesn't burn. Once it has thickened noticeably, add the vegetables back in.

- Serve up with the rice placed in the centre of the plate or bowl. Pour the sauce and vegetables on top then place the chicken on top. This is to make sure the chicken stays crispy but if you're not bothered, you can stir the chicken into the sauce before hand.

- Sprinkle the spring onions and cashews on top. grate some orange zest on top for extra flavour.

Enjoy a healthier Chinese!