I think that I’m rather beginning to get into the swing of Fast Day recipes now! The temptation at the beginning was to just keep it simple and stick to basics. You can’t really mess up a grilled chicken breast and a plate of steamed veg, can you? But that got boring, fast. I like to look forward to my dinner, especially when I have to look forward to it all day without even the blip of lunch to see me through. So I’ve been playing around with some fancier options recently.
This dish is still simple, and it does essentially comprise a plate full of chicken and vegetables. But presentation is everything! You eat with your eyes first, after all. By stir frying you get a different texture and the cauliflower ‘rice’ adds a visual appeal and a satisfaction that I just don’t feel you would get if you just added cauliflower into the stir fry. The crunchiness of the baby corn and sugar snap peas is incredibly welcome after a day’s abstinence and the punch that you can pack into what boils down to the simplest of sauces gives you a lot of flavour for very little! The other nice bonus is that this is a proper plate full of food. You certainly can’t feel deprived looking at that!
Serves 1 (~300cal)
100g cauliflower, coarsely grated
1/2 tsp five spice
~125g chicken breast, sliced
100g courgette, sliced
100g baby corn, halved
50g sugar snap peas, halved
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
a dash of boiling water
– Place the grated cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl and add a pinch of five spice and a pinch of salt.
– Stir well and add 1 tbsp water.
– Microwave for 2 minutes on full power.
– Heat your non stick frying pan or wok. (Now, as with any dry frying, non stick is your friend. Do not try it with anything else or you will weld that chicken to the pan!)
– Add the chicken and cook until just browned.
– Add the remaning five spice and the courgette, corn and peas.
– Stir fry until the courgette is just starting to soften and is catching a little colour.
– Add the soy sace, oyster sauce and just a dash of boiling water. Just enough to cover the base of the pan. If you add too much, simply boil until the sauce is reduced.
– Make sure everything is coated in sauce by stiring well then serve with your cauliflower “rice”.
NB. If you want to make this gluten free make sure you have the right soy and oyster sauces!
Anna in the kitchen 