Honey Ginger Lemon Chicken
Loyal ones. This is what happens when a stir fry is not a stir fry. I was often asked if it is possible to “stir fry” in a CombiSteam. Technically my answer is always “no”. I say no because the concept of stir fry in the true Asian sense, is cooking fast and furious by moving food around in a crazy hot wok. That being said, you can achieve what I would call a “stir fried effect” in your CombiSteam. It works better than I have previously imagined and it does make for some super quick and yummy dishes.
You all hopefully know by now that I love a one pot style meal. I love it when I can throw a few things together and add them to my CombiSteam with minimal prep and fuss and pull out something that tastes good, looks good and is good. I also live by the food philosophy that cooking from scratch using real, fresh and unprocessed ingredients wherever possible, can only be a good thing.
Now, to get the “stir fried effect” I’m talking about, you need to use your Combination Steam (Hot Air+Steaming) function and get that CombiSteam cranking. Get it hot hot hot by preheating it to its highest temperature. This is what I sometimes call the “giant frypan” setting in your CombiSteam. If you have a variable Steam setting on your CombiSteam you need some steam but not too much - I’d say 20-30%. In my brand of choice, that’s not an issue as the moisture sensors always set that up for me. If you play around with this concept you will likely find there are many many recipes that you can adapt quite easily, that may previously only have been cooked on the cooktop in a pan. The best way to learn is to play and experiment.
But, to give you the gist try this one on for size. It’s my Honey Ginger Lemon Chicken (with sizzling beans). It will serve 4 comfortably.
Ingredients:
8 skinless boneless chicken thighs (diced into 3cm chunks)*
2 tbs cornflour
1 tsp white pepper
pinch salt
¼ cup soy sauce
½ cup honey
2 lemons (zested and juiced)
1 tbs freshly grated ginger (or to taste)
2-3 cloves garlic (crushed)
½ cup chicken stock
2 tbs rice bran oil
2 spring onions (root ends remove and finely sliced)
500g green beans (root ends removed - leave the tips on - they look pretty!)
1 tbs mixed black & white sesame seeds (toasted)
Method:
Select Combination Steam (Hot Air+Steaming). Set the temperature to the highest available and allow it to preheat and then get hot hot hot.
Meanwhile, combine the cornflour, pepper and salt in a bowl. Add the chicken pieces and toss to coat. Set aside.
Whisk together the soy sauce, honey, lemon zest, lemon juice, ginger, garlic and chicken stock in a jug or bowl.
Spread the chicken out in a large shallow oven proof dish (pyrex or similar) - a single layer is best. If it piles up too high the dish needs to be bigger. Drizzle 1 tbs of the oil over the top.
Add to the hot CombiSteam and cook for 8 minutes.
Remove the dish and add ¾ of the spring onions. Stir to combine. Pour over the sauce mixture. Stir to combine.
Return the dish to the CombiSteam and cook for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile toss the beans with the remaining oil and season with s&p. Place the beans onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.
Add the beans to the oven with the chicken and cook for a final 5 minutes.
Remove the chicken and the beans and serve topped with the remaining spring onions and the sesame seeds.
*I use chicken thigh because it has much more flavour than chicken breast but if you really must do breast you can. You might like to reduce the cooking time by around 5 minutes however. See what you think - it’s sometimes a matter of personal preference.
*If you like it saucy you can always double the sauce ingredients and add more to the dish which will result in a saucier outcome.
If you would like to have rice with this dish I would cook it first. For perfect rice place equal quantities jasmine rice and water into a large flat bottomed dish. Steam for 25 minutes at 100°C/100%. Remove and fluff with a fork then cover with foil or a lid and set aside while you make the chicken.
I hope you like this one loyal ones and that you start to think about this concept and how you can apply it to other dishes that BSC (before CombiSteam) would have been done on the cooktop.
Happy CombiSteaming!
Yours in the kitchen,
The CSQ.