Bang Bang Chicken

Is everybody feeling the heat lately? Recently Edinburgh has been getting a lot warmer. It’s great weather when I have a day off but it’s really horrible when I have to work under this kind of weather because the temperature can easily reach 40~50 degree.

So today I share with you the recipe of this Bang Bang Chicken. This dish is great for hot weather. I always love to have this dish during the summer and it’s healthy and low fat as well. Especially the green bean noodle is really low in calories and fills you up quickly. It’s a great food for people who want to lose some weight ready for wearing their summer bikinis.

In this particular method of preparing bang bang chicken, I chose to steam the chicken rather than use traditional way of boiling in water because I think steaming the chicken helps keep the texture and taste better. I actually made the sesame paste myself at home because I was too lazy to go to Chinese supermarket just for a bottle of sesame paste. So I went to Sainsbury and bought two small bags of white sesame (for some reason I can’t find any where in the Edinburgh that sells black sesame!! Please contact with me if you know where you can buy the black sesame in Edinburgh and Glasgow), sauté them and use my food processor to grind them into a paste. It’s not difficult at all and taste even better than the sesame paste you bought in the market and cheaper as well.

Credit: These photos were taken by Chris at Chris Radley Photography

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Bang Bang Chicken

Course Main Dish

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

1 chicken breast
1 chicken leg including thigh. You can use chicken breast if you're on a diet
1/2 cucumber julienne it
Handful bean sprouts blanched
3 bunches green bean noodles available in Chinese supermarkets
1 chili julienne it
1 tsp spring onion finely chopped
1 tsp garlic finely chopped
1/2 tsp ginger finely chopped
1 tsp ground Sichuan pepper saute for 20 seconds before grinding it

Seasonings

1 tsp sesame paste
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp water
1.5 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp chili oil

Instructions

Use a tablespoon of rice wine, 1 teaspoon grind Sichuan pepper, 1 teaspoon salt to marinade the chicken breast and leg for 30 minutes.
Use a steamer to cook the chicken with a little bit of ginger slice and spring onion. After it cook just leave it to cool down.
Peel the chicken with your hands after it’s cool down.
Soak the green bean noodle into a bowl of warm water for 15~20 minutes until it’s soft. Cook the green bean noodle in a pot of boiling water for 5~10 minutes and soak in the cold water.
Mix all the seasonings with 1 teaspoon finely chopped spring onion, 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic, ½ teaspoon finely chopped ginger and leave it for 20 minutes and stir it a few times every few minutes to help the sugar, salt to dissolve in the sauce.
Plate up all the vegetables, chicken, green bean noodle into a plate and sprinkle the sauce on the top.