The official top 5 list of the best Chinese takeaway meals goes as follows: chicken noodle soup, chicken balls with curry sauce, chicken curry, spare ribs, salt and chilli anything and chicken chow mein. I will accept no arguments.
While hungry one night, I decided to do some experimenting and tried to make my own version of my local Chinese’s genius idea – salt and chilli chicken chow mein – enjoy!
You’ll need –
For the Salt & Chilli Mix:
- 1tbsp salt
- ½ tbsp caster sugar
- 1 tsp crushed chilli flakes
- ½ tsp chinese 5 spice
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
For the Chicken:
- 3 chicken breasts
- 3 eggs
- 50g cornflour
- 25g breadcrumbs
- 1 onion
- 1 green peppers
- 2 chilli peppers
For the Chow Mein Noodles:
- 170g dried noodles
- Light soy sauce
- Dark soy sauce
- ½ tsp white pepper
- ½ tsp golden caster sugar
- 2 finely chopped spring onions
First make up your salt and chilli powder mix! Take 1 tbsp of salt, ½ tbsp caster sugar, ½ tsp Chinese 5 spice, 1 tsp crushed chilli flakes, ½ tsp garlic powder, ¼ tsp ground ginger and ¼ ground white pepper. Stir it together and store in an airtight container.
Next, in a large bowl separate the whites from 3 eggs – you can use the yolks to make some homemade custard – and add three tsp of salt and chilli mix and 1 tbsp of soy sauce into the egg whites.
Slice up your chicken breasts into bite size pieces and add them to the bowl and mix well ensuring that all of your chicken pieces have been coated before popping the bowl into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Sift cornflour into a bowl and mix in your breadcrumbs into the cornflour with a fork and coat your chicken pieces in the cornflour mix in batches.
Now you have the option to either fry your chicken or bake them in the oven.
To Fry: Add oil in a pan and bring up to 180c, slowly add the chicken to the frying pan and cook for 5-10 minutes flipping halfway through.
To Bake: Lay all of the chicken on a lined baking tray and put into an over pre-heated to 180c or GM4 and bake for 5-10 minutes, flipping halfway through.
While the chicken is cooking, add your noodles to a pan and cook through – I use Koka brand instant noodles, draining most of the water after the noodles have been cooked and adding the flavour packet to the water and adding the noodles back to the pan.
Next, chop up your garlic and chilli pepper. Add 1tbsp of soy sauce to a wok along with half of the chilli and garlic. Chop your onions and peppers into bite size pieces and add these to the wok – you’ll want to add the onions first so these soften first so your peppers and onions both still have some crunch.
Next, fully drain your noodles and add 3tbs of soy sauce, ½ tsp white pepper, ½ tsp golden caster sugar and finely chopped spring onion to the pan. Once the sugar has melted add the noodles back to the pan and mix together and add half of the veggies from the wok into the noodles.
Finally, add the chicken into the wok, another 2-3 tsp of salt and chilli mix or more to taste and full combine and warm through.
Serve up the noodles, top with chicken and decorate with some sliced pepper and a pinch or two more of the salt and chilli mix.
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