Takeaway-Style Chicken

by Dr Rupy Aujla

This sticky sweet and salty takeaway-style dish takes minutes. When I want comfort food, it satisfies the craving but it’s surprisingly high in fibre, diversity and protein. You could easily swap out the chicken for tofu instead if you prefer to keep it plant based. I generally use whatever vegetables I have in the fridge to toss into a wok, but the classic pairing of peppers and green beans is what I would reach for. This is a crowd-pleasing, flavourful, family-style recipe that has a ton of fibre and plant polyphenols, helping everyone to be healthier with each bite.

Method

Based on 4 servings, adjust as needed.

Step 1

Mix half of the soy sauce with the diced chicken in a mixing bowl, dust in the 2/3rds of the cornflour to coat and leave to marinate for 15–20 minutes.

Step 2

Drizzle the marinated chicken with a little oil, then spread out evenly in a lined air fryer and cook at 200°C for 15 minutes until crispy and cooked through. Alternatively, bake in the oven at 200°C for 20–25 minutes.

Step 3

Mix the remaining soy and cornflour with the rice vinegar, hoisin sauce and red chilli flakes with 4 tablespoons of water (if cooking for 4) and set aside. Heat a large wok over a medium–high heat, add a drizzle of olive oil and cook the garlic and ginger for 30 seconds before adding the diced peppers and green beans or sugar snap peas and stir-frying for 3–4 minutes.

Step 4

Add the cooked chicken to the wok, then add the sauce and give everything a good mix. The sauce will reduce and thicken quickly so be sure to keep the ingredients moving in the wok.

Step 5

When the sauce has thickened, remove from the heat. Serve on a platter with the warm rice, spring onions and snipped chives. Garnish with the toasted peanuts.

  • Ingredients
  • Based on 4 servings
  • 80g Peanuts, toasted and roughly chopped, to garnish 1x Stamford Street Co. Salted Peanuts 200g
  • 4tbsp Dark Soy Sauce 1x Sainsbury's Dark Soy Sauce 150ml
  • 2tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar 1x Yutaka Japanese Rice Vinegar 150ml
  • 10g Fresh Root Ginger, peeled and grated 1x Sainsbury's Ginger 100g
  • 1 Green Pepper, deseeded and cut into 3cm chunks 1x Sainsbury's Green Pepper
  • 1 Red Pepper, deseeded and cut into 3cm chunks 1x Sainsbury's Red Pepper
  • 200g Green Beans, or sugar snaps, halved 1x Sainsbury's Fine Green Beans 200g
  • 2tbsp Hoisin Sauce 1x Sainsbury's Hoisin Sauce 150ml
  • 2 Pouches Cooked Brown Rice, warmed 2x Ben's Original Classic Wholegrain Microwave Rice 220g
  • 20g Spring Onions, finely sliced 1x Sainsbury's Spring Onions Bunch 100g
  • 20g Chives, or garlic chives, finely chopped 1x Sainsbury's Bunched Chives 20g
  • 500g Chicken Thighs, skinless and boneless, cut into 3cm chunks 1x Sainsbury's British Fresh Chicken Thigh Fillets Skinless & Boneless 640g
  • 3tbsp Cornflour 1x Sainsbury's Cornflour 500g
  • 2tbsp Olive Oil 1x Sainsbury's Olive Oil 500ml
  • 3 Garlic Cloves, grated 1x Sainsbury's Garlic
  • 1tsp Red Chilli Flakes 1x Sainsbury's Crushed Chillies 32g
Shop this recipe
Products and prices from