Chicken and Prawn Stirfry

One of my favourite Chinese meals is chicken and prawn fried rice that I order about 8 of 10 times I have Chines takeout so I set out to find an easy to prepare alternative that tastes just as good as the local Chinese takeout. It’s really important to have a very hot wok or pan when you start and to work quickly, making sure that the ingredients get a quick scalding that adds a bit of colour. This is for 2 hungry people and it wont keep for long if you use the prawns so take whatever you have left to work for you.

What you need

250g basmati rice
50ml sweet chili sauce (about 4 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 large chicken breasts or 4 thighs, deboned and cut into bite size pieces
Handfull of green beans sliced through the center and cut into 5cm pieces
1 red pepper sliced finely
150g of uncooked skinless prawns
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
2 eggs lightly beaten
5 or 6 spring onions sliced diagonally
sesame seeds
Oil for frying

The process

Cook up the rice by following the instructions on the pack. You don’t have to use basmati rice, any rice really and in fact if you are a little more health concious than I am, use brown rice. Once cooked, drain in a sieve, place back over the pot and cover with a dish cloth to keep it warm.

In a bowl add the soy sauce, sweet chili sauce and the sesame oil, give it a whisk with a fork and set aside.

Now heat your wok or large pan to very hot, add the oil and it should give off a little smoke. Now toss in the chicken pieces and move them around quickly for about 3 minutes. They should colour easily and be nice and golden in places. Remove them and set aside.

Add a little more oil, then the beans and red peppers, quickly move them around until they begin to colour. This should also only take about 2 or 3 minutes. Now add the prawns, garlic and ginger and quickly move them around until the prawns colour and the meat is turning white, also about 2-3 minutes.

Now add the cooked rice and mix well, fliipping it with your spatula to combine all of the ingredients and heat them. Make a space on one side, add the egg and allow it to cook for a few seconds, then use a fork to break it up and mix into the rice.

Now add the chicken, the sauce and the spring onions, stir and move around until it’s all steaming andf ready for the plate.

It sounds like a lot of work but really it’s quite simple. Be sure you have a large pan if you do not have a wok or do it in 2 halves, the process is quick enough.