London’s Chinatown to buy my ingredients

It’s been a week of awards with the Brits music awards  in London on Wednesday and the upcoming  glam & glitz of the Oscars in Los Angeles  this weekend. My friend Josh was working hard behind the scenes at the Brits as the vocal coach of Little Mix and my favourite moment was the moving tribute to David Bowie. I was inspired by my recent creative challenge by friend & co blogger Meredith from Food at Heart and decided to create a stir fry with some of my favourite Japanese, Korean & Chinese flavours and ingredients.

Japanese  & Korean Flavour Crusaders

I had fun buying the ingredients in Chinatown but you should be able to buy them in most large supermarkets. It’s easy to make and you can adapt using your favourite veggies, noodles & flavours.

Ingredients & Chicken Marinating

Ingredients (Serves 2)

• 2  chicken breasts or 4 chicken thighs
• 1 teaspoon of Gochujang Korean chilli paste ( or red chilli paste of your choice)
• 2 teaspoons of Spicy Korean BBQ Marinade ( I used “We Rub You” Korean-American sauce)
•  1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce ( I used Kikkoman less salt)
• 1 teaspoon of Mirin (Japanese rice wine)
• 1 tablespoon of groundnut or rapeseed oil
• 1 garlic clove thinly sliced into strips
• 1 cm (0.4 inch) fresh ginger peeled & thinly sliced into strips
• 1/2 mild red chilli  thinly sliced
• 3 large florets of broccoli, washed & sliced
• 3 baby sweetcorn, washed & chopped into  2 cm ( 0.8 inch) pieces
• 6 pak choi leaves, washed  & chopped into large pieces
• 2 spring onions, washed & chopped into rings
• 8 sugar snap peas, washed & halved
• 1 packet of ready to stir fry Japanese Udon Noodles ( or noodles of your choice)
  

  Chopped & Ready for the Wok

Method

• Cut your chicken into large pieces and marinate in Gochujang, BBQ Marinade and fresh red chilli slices for  at least 30 minutes or for 2-4 hours (if time) in the fridge
• Heat your wok or large frying pan  until very hot and add the 1/2 tablespoon of stir fry oil
• Stir-fry the chicken pieces for about 5- 6 minutes over a high heat stirring all the time until cooked through
• Remove chicken & sauce created from the wok & set aside in a  bowl
• Add rest of stir fry oil to the wok and add the garlic and ginger
• Add the veggies in the following order broccoli florets, pak choi stalks, baby corn, sugar snap peas , white part of spring onions,  mirin,  soy sauce and stir fry for 3-4 minutes
• Add the chicken back together with the Udon noodles and stir fry for 2 minutes
• Add the green tops of pak choi and green part of spring onions and stir fry for 1 minute

My (not yet award winning) Chilli Chicken Stir Fry – created with my favourite Asian flavours.