Sticky kicking chicken with watermelon radish salad & crunchy noodles

Jamie Oliver 15 Minute Meals

Trying out some of the recipes in my Jamie Oliver book. Second to try was:

Sticky chicken with watermelon radish salad & crunchy noodles

Salad
200g thin rice noodles
sesame oil
800g watermelon
2 little gem lettuces
1 handful radishes
1/2  bunch mint
1/2 bunch coriander

Chicken
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs - i used 4 chicken breasts
1 tbsp chinese five-spice - i used more, just made sure all was covered
Olive oil
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce - again i used more to cover
2 tbsp sesame seeds - again i used more to cover

Dressing
2 tbsp low salt soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2-1 red chilli - i didn't use
1/2 a thumb size piece of ginger
2 spring onions
2 limes
1 small clove garlic

The Salad
Add the noodles to boiling water.  Once cooked, drain and add to a big bowl with the sesame oil.  At this point you can add  some of the noodles to a frying pan and toss until crunchy.  I didn't do this.  Cut up melon, lettuce, radishes, mint ( i didn't use mint), top part of coriander and add to the bowl.

The Dressing
To a liquidizer add the coriander stalks, soy sauce, fish sauce, chilli, ginger, spring onions, splash water, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, lime juice and garlic.  Once combined add to the salad bowl.

The Chicken
On greaseproof paper add the chinese five spice seasoning, salt, pepper and chicken. Fold the paper and bash the chicken with a rolling pin. Make sure the chicken is covered in the seasoning. Fry the chicken with olive oil. Once cooked, drain fat from pan, cover chicken with sweet chilli sauce and sesame seeds.  Once  done, serve.

I loved adding the combination of chinese five spice, sweet chilli sauce and sesame seeds. Also loved the flavours in the salad.  I wasn't sure about the radishes in the salad because I find them tasteless but was nice mixed with the noodles and lettuce.

Spicy cajun chicken with smashed sweet potato & fresh corn salad

Jamie Oliver 15 Minute Meals

Trying out some of the recipes in my Jamie Oliver book. First to try was:

Spicy cajun chicken with smashed sweet potato & fresh corn salad

Salsa
4 corn on the cob - i used tinned sweetcorn
1 small bunch coriander
1 red chilli - i used it but won't again as too hot for me!!
4 spring onions
3 ripe tomatoes
2 limes
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Smash
800g sweet potatoes
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce - great idea adding to potatoes, lovely flavour

Chicken
4 chicken skinless breasts
1 tbsp cajun seasoning
1 tbsp polenta - i didn't use because could't find it anywhere
olive oil
2 rashers of streaky bacon - i used smoked back bacon as its my favorite
175g okra - i didn't use
20g feta cheese

The Salsa
Tastes amazing. Next time I will not add the chilli as I found it too hot. I used tinned sweetcorn instead of corn on the cob. Add the sweetcorn to a big bowl. Chop the top part of coriander and add to the bowl. Chop spring onions, chilli, tomatoes and add to the bowl with a pinch of salt, lime juice and extra virgin oil. Mix together.

The Smash
Who knew?? I had never used sweet chilli sauce with sweet potatoes and I will use it again for sure. What a lovely taste it had. Peel and finely slice the potatoes and add to boiling salted water. Once cooked, drain water and mash with sweet chilli sauce.

The Chicken
I didn't add polenta or okra. Didn't have any in my shops!!! I didn't miss anything tho. On greaseproof paper add the cajun seasoning, salt and chicken. Fold the paper and bash the chicken with a rolling pin. Make sure the chicken is covered in the seasoning. Fry the chicken with olive oil. Once cooked, cut up the bacon and fry.

Add feta cheese  for decoration. I added. thought it was a nice touch.

All in all a good recipe with lovely flavours in the salsa. From now on I will be adding sweet chilli sauce to my sweet potatoes!! Just lovely! :)