Cooking for Dummies Series: Chicken Satay

Every student loves a cheeky Chinese takeaway once in a while, but it can really start to rack up your overdraft, so why not make it yourself. Anyone can knock up a stir fry, yet add this to the meal and you might just never need a takeaway again.

Ingredients:

This recipe makes one serving.

1 chicken breast

½ tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

½ lime

1 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter

1 clove garlic

½ teaspoon chilli flakes

All of the ingredients.

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180°C on grill setting.
• Place your chicken breast on a chopping board and score it diagonally both ways about an inch apart so that it makes criss-crosses (this not only ensures that the chicken cooks all the way through, but more importantly will lock in more flavour).
• Place the chicken in a dish or bowl which you can marinate it in. Add half a tablespoon of olive oil and one teaspoon of soy sauce. Salt and pepper generously and zest half a lime in. Give this all a mix and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty.

Scoring the chicken ensures that it locks in the delicious flavours from the marinade.

• Fry the chicken on medium heat score side down for 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile it’s time to make the sauce. Scoop 1 tablespoon of peanut butter into a bowl. Then squeeze the juice of half a lime, add 2 teaspoons of soy sauce, 1 clove of chopped garlic (2 if you like your food garlicy) and half a teaspoon of chilli flakes (or a whole teaspoon if you’re feeling moi picante). Mix and add water until the sauce becomes thick but pourable.
• After 5 minutes, take the frying pan off the heat and turn the chicken and pour all of your sauce onto it. Then place the chicken under the grill for 5-6 minutes.

Yummy!

• Serve over noodles and stir fried veg. (Additional soy sauce optional but advised) et voilà!

James Hurman 

Images courtesy of James Hurman. 

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