Tue, 4 April 2017
This is a cool take on a classic chicken stir-fry. The birds’ nests are made from noodles and as a bonus they are baked, not deep-fried, and the sauce is delish!
Stuff You’ll Need:
• Saucepan
• Muffin Tray
• Wok/frying pan
• Chopping board
• Scissors
• Knife
• Wooden spoon
• Measuring spoons
• Bowl
Ingredients:
• 2 nests of noodles
• 1 tbsp cornflour and 1 tbsp oil
• Spray oil
• 2 chicken fillets
• Corn flour, soy sauce and Chinese 5 spice – for velveting
• Spring onions
• Garlic
• Carrots
• Red Pepper
• Yellow Pepper
Marinade and Sauce
• ¼ tsp Chinese 5 spice
• 1 tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Fish sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• ¼ tsp Chilli powder/fresh chilli
• 1 tbsp maple syrup/honey
• 100mls water
Food Styling (Optional):
• A bamboo place mat is typically Asian so looks great here.
• It’s nice to save one or two of the vegetable shapes to garnish the dish with.
• The quails’ eggs are tiny and fit into the tiny bird’s nest and make it look real (boiled and fried are often included in Asian cookery).
• The banana leaf printable is so cool to finish the styled look of this dish and can be downloaded from the Foodoppi website.
Prep your noodles:
1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Boil a kettle of water. Soak the noodles for 5 mins and allow to soften. Drain, allow to cool and combine with 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp corn flour. Toss the noddle all together.
2. Spritz the muffin tins with spray oil. Mould the noodles in and around the muffin tin and using your fingers create a hollow in the centre. Spritz with oil on top.
3. Place in the oven and bake for 15 mins until crisp and golden brown.
Now for the chicken:
1. To velvet the chicken – chop the chicken into long thin strips.
2. Stir in the corn flour, 5 spice & soy sauce until it forms a thin paste.
3. Add in the chicken and allow to marinade for 20 mins while you prepare the vegetables and make the sauce.
Sauce and Shapes:
1. To make the sauce combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Cut the spring onions with a scissors, smash the garlic or grate.
3. Peel the carrot and cut out flower shapes
4. Deseed the pepper and cut out heart and star shapes.
Now for the stir fry!
1. Have a cup of water ready beside the wok. Add water while cooking to stop stickiness and create steam for quicker cooking.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in the wok. Add in all the vegetables and chicken and cook quickly moving all the time for about 5 mins.
3. Pour in the sauce and cook for another 3 mins.
Serve!
1. Remove from the heat and serve into the birds’ nests.
2. Garnish with fresh coriander and quail eggs.
