Chicken Chow Mein

My daughter told me her favorite meal is now chow mein so I thought I would give the homemade version a try. I looked through my Jamie Oliver Food Revolution cookbook and sure enough he had a healthy version of chow mein. She liked this dish so much that she asked me to make it every night...success! I changed a few things to our liking from the original recipe.

Picture and recipe taken from Jamie's Food Revolution cookbook and website.

  • a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½–1 fresh yellow chilli, to your taste
• 1 large skinless chicken breast
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• a small bunch of fresh cilantro
• 4 oz chow mein noodles
• peanut oil
• 1 heaped teaspoon cornflour
• 2–3 tablespoons soy sauce

These are the ingredients I left out if you want to add them for more flavor; 2 scallions, 1 baby bok choy, 4 shitake mushrooms, 1 x 8 ox can of water chestnuts, 1 small lime.

To prepare your stir-fry
• Put a large pan of water on to boil
• Peel and finely slice the ginger and garlic
• Finely slice the chili
• Slice the chicken into finger-sized strips and lightly season with salt and pepper
• If using, cut the ends off your onions and finely slice
• Pick the cilantro leaves and put to one side, and finely chop the stalks
• If using, halve the bok choy lengthways
• If using the mushrooms, either tear into pieces or leave whole

To cook your stir-fry
• Preheat a wok or large frying pan on a high heat and once it’s very, very hot add a good lug of peanut oil and swirl it around
• Stir in the chicken strips and cook for a couple of minutes, until the chicken browns slightly
• Add the ginger, garlic, chilli, cilantro stalks, mushrooms (if using) and half the onions
• Stir-fry for 30 seconds, keeping everything moving round the wok quickly
• Add your noodles and bok choy to the boiling water and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, no longer
• Meanwhile, add the cornflour, water chestnuts and their water to the wok and give it another good shake to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom
• Remove from the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• Halve the lime, squeeze the juice of one half into the pan and mix well
• Drain the noodles and bok choy in a colander over a bowl, reserving a little of the cooking water
• Stir in the noodles and bok choy with a little of the cooking water to loosen if necessary, and mix well
• Have a taste and season with more soy sauce if needed

To serve your stir-fry
• Use tongs to divide everything between two bowls or plates, or to lift on to one large serving platter
• Spoon any juices over the top and sprinkle with the rest of the spring onions and the coriander leaves
• Serve with lime wedges 

Jamie Oliver's Chicken Fajitas

I finally bought my first Jamie Oliver cookbook. I choose the Food Revolution because it was the only soft cover, therefore the cheapest. This is the first recipe I made from it and it was so simple yet very good. You will see in the directions that it is copied directly from his book as well as the picture posted above. Looking for an easy recipe, this is it.

1 red bell pepper
1 medium red onion
8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
A small pinch of ground cumin
2 limes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/16 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 x 8-inch flour tortillas
½ cup plain yogurt
2 ounces Cheddar cheese

For the salsa
½–1 fresh red chile, to your taste
15 ripe grape or cherry tomatoes

about ½ cup a small bunch of fresh cilantro

1/16 teaspoon sea salt

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 lime

For the guacamole

a small handful of cherry tomatoes

about ¼ cup

½-1 fresh red chile

a few sprigs of fresh cilantro

½ ripe avocado

1 lime

·         Put your grill pan on a high heat. Halve and seed your bell pepper and cut it into thin strips. Peel, halve, and finely slice your onion. Slice your chicken lengthways into long strips roughly the same size as your bell pepper strips.

·         Put the bell peppers, onion, and chicken into a bowl with the paprika and cumin. Squeeze over the juice of half a lime, drizzle over a lug of olive oil, season with the salt and pepper and mix well. Put to one side to marinate for 5 minutes or so while you make your salsa.

·         Finely chop your chile. Roughly chop your tomatoes and the cilantro, stalks and all.

·         Put the chile and tomatoes into a second bowl with the salt and pepper and the juice of 1 lime. Then stir in your chopped cilantro.

·         Use a pair of tongs to put all the pieces of bell pepper, onion, and chicken into your preheated pan to cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the chicken is golden and cooked through. As the pan will be really hot, keep turning the pieces of chicken and vegetables over so they don’t burn – you just want them to lightly chargrill to give you a lovely flavor. Give the pan a little love and attention and you'll be laughing.

·         To make the guacamole squeeze a handful of cherry tomatoes on to a board. Finely chop up the flesh with ½ -1 red chile and a handful of cilantro leaves, including the top part of the stalks.

·         Halve the avocado, leaving the side with the pit for another use. Then squeeze the one side of the avocado over a board so the flesh comes out of the skin. Discard the skin. Squeeze over the juice of 1 lime and chop everything together until fine. Taste and adjust the flavors if needed.

·         Warm your tortillas up in a microwave or a warm dry frying pan. Divide your warmed tortillas between your serving plates.

·         Halve your remaining lime and squeeze the juices over the sizzling pan. Serve with bowls of plain yogurt and guacamole alongside your Cheddar, a grater, and your lovely fresh salsa.