Miles Collins

An easy Chinese style chicken dish….

Yesterday I paid a long overdue visit to my local Chinese supermarket for some inspiration both professionally and personally. I used to be a regular in that place, my menus were peppered with Asian dishes and the owners loved the fact that I bought all of the ‘weird’ stuff nobody else would!

Asian food is my passion, I love old English recipes, French gastronomy and country style, rustic Italian, Spanish peasant dishes etc but I would open an Asian restaurant tomorrow, no question. Going back to that shop and seeing the jars of XO sauce, fresh (ish!) greens, spices, noodles, woks and bamboo steamers brought it all back home to me. What I love about Asian cuisine is that it can be so deceptively simple yet the layers of taste can be very complex.

So I walked in there with the knowledge that back home in the fridge I had a chicken breast and a head of broccoli for my dinner. I wanted something that would be quick and simple to prepare because I was heading for the gym and my mate who pushes me to the limit in there. Daylight is fading so my dash to try and capture (photographically) my barn owl had to be considered too. This meant stir fry. I saw a pack of rice noodle squares and thought that they would look pretty trendy in the wok so I got those. Job done.

Then I walked down another aisle and found a pack of dried woodear mushrooms, they would go great with the broccoli and chicken so I had to get them but I like wood ears in a liquid so I began to envisage my stir fry with a sauce…there it stood, looking right at me. Lee Kum Kee chiili black bean sauce.
Back home, the wood ears were soaked in boiling water until soft, the broccoli and noodles cooked until just done.

Chicken sliced, oil in wok, windows open and in the meat went. The chicken was ’sealed’ quickly. Onions and ginger might well have gone in had I any but I didn’t. The wood ears went in next, standard mushrooms are fine for this but try and find some if you can be bothered. A decent spoon of the chilli black bean paste went in next, try a little on the tip of your tongue first before you get carried away unless you want to sneeze and cry like I did because I didn’t follow my own advice. Stir, stir, stir, breathe in the chilli fumes and cough your lungs up, open the windows wider. Now carefully add some chicken stock (you could add some sherry or shaoxing first but I’m a single man and not a vicar so sherry isn’t a staple in my house)

Broccoli went in next followed by the noodles until heated through. A spoon of diluted cornflour/cornstarch thickened the liquid and brought it all together in a harmonious kind of way but it was missing a bit of ‘zing’. To be honest I find a lot of Chinese food a little wanting on the wow factor front. Sechuan is good because it’s got a kick and I do find that fresh coriander/cilantro is the yang to chillies ying so that went in at the end.

There you have it, if I had time I would have photographed this when it had cooled and not whilst the steam rose from it but I was hungry and in a rush. Besides, you’ve got the recipe, what more do you want?

Chicken, Broccoli, Chinese Mushrooms and Noodles in Black Bean Sauce