Mark's Birthday Kung Po Chicken.

It was my husbands birthday yesterday, so i made him a meal of some of his favourite foods.

He loves Kung Po Chicken, so that was on the menu with Egg Fried Rice and Prawn Crackers followed by Fudgy Chocolate Coconut Brownies.

He said it was the best Kung Po Chicken he had ever had!!

So there goes take out from the Chinese Take Away now, but on the up side at least i know whats in it when i make it myself, and it is so much healthy too.

Some of the ingredients you will need to get from a Chinese Supermarket, but it so worth the trip.

Serves 2

2 chicken breast diced

Salt and pepper to season chicken

1 tbsp potato flour (available from Chinese supermarket)

1 tbsp ground nut oil

2 tbsp sichuan peppercorns (available from Chinese supermarket)

4 dried chillis

1 tbsp shaohsing cooking wine (available from Chinese supermarket)

1 red pepper cubed

3 spring onions chopped

Half a head of brocolli

Half a cup of roasted cashew nuts

Sauce Ingredients

100ml cold vegetable stock

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tbsp Chinkiang black rice vinegar (available from Chinese supermarket)

1 tbsp hoisin sauce

1 tbsp hot chilli sauce

1 tbsp cornflour

Season the chicken with the salt and pepper then coat with the potato flour, set aside.

Mix all the sauce ingredients together and set aside.

Heat the Ground nut oil in a wok till smoking, then add the dried peppers and sichuan peppercorns fry for 20 seconds.

Add the chicken and stir fry till it starts to cook, then add the brocolli and red pepper, stir together, then add the shaohsing cooking wine and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the sauce, bring to the boil, then simmer till chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened and is sticky, stir in the spring onions and cashew nuts.

Serve with egg fried rice or noodles.

Juicy Chilli Chicken & Cashew Nuts with Noodles

We are very much into Chinese food in our house at the moment, and it's all due to Ching-He Huang, we recently saw a series she made called Chinese Food in Minutes and the recipes she cooked looked delicious!!
So i found the recipes and tried them out, the first dish i made was this one, and it was delicious, so much tastier than a take away and you know exactly whats in it, it also took just as long to cook it as it takes to order and pick up a take away!!

I added my own little touches, and extra ingredients to make it to our tastes.......

Serves 2
Prep time 10 minutes
Cook time 10 minutes


3 chicken breasts thinely sliced
1 tsp corn flour
1 tbsp water
½ tsp Chinese 5 spice
2 tbsp ground nut oil
1 tsp sichuan peppercorns
1 tsp chilli bean paste (available from Chinese supermarkets)
1 red chilli finely chopped
½ head of broccoli
1 tbsp shaohsing wine (available from Chinese supermarkets)
100g roasted salted cashew nuts
1 tsp light soy sauce
Juice of ½ lime
1 packet of straight to wok noodles
1 tbsp coriander leaves chopped


In a bowl combine the corn flour, Chinese 5 spice and water, mix in the chicken.
Heat the oil in a smoking hot wok, add the sichuan peppercorns, chilli bean paste and the chilli, stir fry for 30 seconds, add the broccoli and a dash of water to create steam to help the broccoli cook and stir fry for 2 minutes.
Add the chicken and the shaohsing wine and stir fry for 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the noodles, and nuts, stir fry for 2 minute, then season with the coriander, soy sauce and lime juice.

Somerset Chicken

This recipe has been stolen from The Hairy Bikers Food Tour of Britain, I've just tweaked it slightly for my families taste.

It's not a dish i will do often, not because it wasn't good, because it was really delicious, but because it's not good for the waste line and arteries.

The rich creamy sauce, the moist chicken and the tang of the mustard, goes really well with a baked spud, but you don't need to put any butter on the spud as the sauce soaks in to the fluffy potato.

I will admit i did forget to put the cheese on top and grill it till it was golden and bubbly, but to be honest it really didn't need it, it was deliciously rich and creamy enough without it!!

I roasted some vine ripened tomatoes to go with it, the sweet but acidic tang from the tomatoes cut through the rich creaminess!!!

Pre heat oven to 200c, 400f or gas mark 6

Serves 2

1 Baking potato per person.

Prick potato all over and put straight onto rack in the oven and bake for about an hour.

2 Chicken breasts
1 tbsp Olive oil
25g Butter
1 Onion sliced
2 tbsp Flour
2 tsp Whole grain mustard
1 Bramley apple cut into batons
8oz Chestnut mushrooms sliced
500ml Chicken stock
150ml Cider
6 leaves of sage finely chopped
100ml Double cream
100g Grated cheddar - optional - I refrained from the cheese.
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large saute pan melt the butter and olive oil, add the chicken to the pan and brown on all sides, remove from pan and put on a roasting tin and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.

Add the onions to the pan and soften but do not colour, then add the mushrooms and brown.

Stir in the mustard and flour and cook out for 2 minutes.

Add the stock and bring to the boil then add the cider and cook off the alcohol for 2 minutes, turn the heat down low and stir in the sage and cream.

Season to taste and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the chicken back to the pan.

If you are going to use the cheese, put the grill on full and sprinkle the cheese over the chicken and grill till the cheese is golden and bubbly.

Serve with the baked potato and some roasted tomatoes.