Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake

After I made Nigella's Chocolate Birthday Cake I went on a bit of a cleaning spree and put away my cookbooks and when I went to blog about it, I couldn't remember what recipe I had used. While I was looking for the recipe, I found Nigella's recipe for her Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake. Nigella says that it's "pretty damn dreamy" and "as damp and sticky as gingerbread and quite as aromatic". I love gingerbread. I also loved the picture she had of the cake. I had to make it.

This is another really really easy cake. I measured everything out while baking my boiled chocolate cake and left it to get to room temperature for a few hours, then when I went to bake it everything was so easy

This cake is meant to be dense and damp and aromatic, but unfortunately I had no dark chocolate at home and I substituted milk chocolate with some Dutch unsweetened cocoa mixed through once melted. It made the cake a lot lighter than it should have been, but it tastes so good I don't even notice.

Nigella has hers sliced thinly into slivers in the photo and I've copied the idea. It's quite practical too, a thin sliver is not too large a serving but is still immensely satisfying.

Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake
from How to Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

1 cup soft unsalted butter
1 2/3 cups dark brown sugar (I just used brown sugar)
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 ounces best bittersweet chocolate, melted (I used milk chocolate)
1 1/3 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup plus 2 tbs boiling water

9 x 5-inch loaf pan

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celcius. Put a baking sheet in to catch any drips and grease and line the loaf pan. Nigella says that the denseness of the cake makes the lining doubly important.

Cream the butter and sigar and then add the eggs and vanilla, beating in well. Next fold in the melted and slightly cooled chocolate, careful not to overbeat. Then add the flour and baking soda, alternately spoon by spoon, with the boiling water until you have a smooth and fairly liquid batter. Pour into the lined loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to 160 degrees Celcius and cooked for another 15 minutes.

Place the loaf pan on a rack and leave to get completely cold before turning it out. Nigella advised that it doesn't matter if it sinks in the middle, either.


This is my final entry in the Ultimate Chocolate Cake Challenge!

Boiled Chocolate Cake

We have a new camera! Nothing all that fancy, it's more like an updated version of our old camera but it is very cool and I'm very excited about it.

After trying some fancier cakes, I really wanted to do something simple and something that was a little different. This recipe was given to me by my mother, and I think it may have come from my grandmother before then. Where it actually originated from, I'm not sure.

I love this cake as it's so moist and chocolatey. It's really easy to make as well and I've iced it with a simple chocolate buttercream. I must say, that I have never tasted a nicer buttercream. The moist cake and soft, rich, chocolatey buttercream was just divine. Sometimes the simple things are so good!

The batter is quite liquid before it goes into the oven. Unfortunately, our oven is not balanced very well and despite me rotating the cake a couple of times, it still came out uneven. A lot of frosting can disguise all though.

Boiled Chocolate Cake

1 ½ cup sugar
4 oz butter
1 cup water
2 tbs cocoa
½ tsp carb soda

Put in a stock pot on the stove and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts to boil, then turn right down and then simmer for 5 minutes. Take it off the heat and let it cool slightly.

Once cooled, add 2 beaten eggs and 1 ½ cups self raising flour. Mix well and pour it into a large greased roasting pan which has been lined with foil.

Bake for 40 min on 375 degrees F.

Kittencal's Chocolate Buttercream Frosting/Icing
Adapted from Kittencal's recipe on Recipezaar

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
40ml milk (this is what the halved recipe calls for, but I didn't measure, just added until I got a consistency I liked)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

Cream the butter in a mixer.

Blend in the cocoa powder, vanilla, icing sugar, alternately with the milk.

Beat with an electric mixer, until the desired texture is achieved.


This is the third of my entries in the Ultimate Chocolate Cake Challenge!

Oh no!!!!

DD's trusty Canon Powershot, that he has had for many many years and that has been with me through my entire food blogging career (all 18 months of it) has died. Right when I was baking a chocolate cake for NQN's Ultimate Chocolate Cake Bakeoff AND when I found some jamon iberico that I'm dying to try, but not until I take a photo of it!

DD is looking at cameras to buy and he says that we may be able to get one tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Chocolate Birthday Cake

So, after I made the Lighter-Than-Air Chocolate Cake, I wanted to do a more traditional, heavier chocolate cake. Another dessert-type cake, but I wanted to go for a richer cake this time.

I couldn't believe that when looking for chocolate cake recipes I didn't go straight to Nigella. I hereby apologise to all my Nigella cookbooks, I have seen the error of my ways. I have been reminded that for whatever the occasion, Nigella has a chocolate cake for it. Unfortunately, they are sometimes a little bit on the fancy side in terms of ingredients and on this occasion I didn't want to go out, so I chose this simple chocolate cake from How to Eat.

Nigella calls this cake solid, and she is completely right - it is solid to the point of fudginess. I wished I had thought to heat it slightly in the microwave, I think that a little bit of melting would have made a world of difference. I found the cake tremendously tasty and beautifully chocolatey. The ganache was a wonderful way to finish it and the flavours in the cake were perfectly matched. I just found the texture of the cake to be way too solid (that is the perfect word!) to eat more than a few bites.

The fantastic bit about the cake was how easy it was to make. All there was to it was stirring. I was very much sold on layers the day I made the cake, so I halved the recipe below and baked it in three small loaf tins. In hindsight, I should have trimmed the cake before applying the ganache, but I was trying to ice this cake in the two minutes before we were to go out for dinner while talking on the phone (because the phone rang at the last minute) and trying to get changed. So now it's interestingly shaped.

I would be interested to try the cake in a proper-sized pan. I am wondering if I didn't adjust the temperature properly for the three tins and maybe the cake was overcooked. It's such and easy recipe that I'm sure it won't be long before I try it again.

Birthday Cake
from How to Eat by Nigella Lawson

for the cake
225g self-raising flour
30g best cocoa
200g caster sugar
100g unsalted butter
200g condensed milk
100g best quality dark chocolate
2 eggs, beaten

for the chocolate ganache
250g best quality chocolate
250ml double cream

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Put the kettle on. Butter a 20cm springform cake tin (or 2 sandwich tins) and line the base with baking parchment.

Sieve the flour, cocoa and a pinch of salt together in a large bowl and set aside.

Put the sugar, cocoa, butter, condensed milk, 100ml just boiled water and the chocolate broken into small pieces in a saucepan and heat until melted and smooth. Then, using a wooden spoon, stir this robustly but not excitably into the flour-cocoa mixture and, when all is glossily amalgamated, beat in the eggs.

Pour into the cake tin and bake for 35-45 minutes; less if you're using the shallower sandwich tins. When it's ready, the top will feel firm.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn out onto the rack.

When completely cool, split in half horizontally or, if using the sandwich tins, stick the two cakes together.

To make the ganache, chop up the chocolate and put it in a medium sized bowl, preferably a wide shallow one rather than a pudding basin shape. Heat the cream to boiling (but do not let it boil) and pour it over the chocolate. Leave for 5 minutes and then, using an electric mixer, beat until combined, coolish, thickish and glossy. You want it thin enough to pour but thick enough to stay put. At this stage, think on the ganache as somewhere between a sauce and an icing. Later, it will set hard. Pour some over the cut side of one half of the cake, using a palate knife to spread, and then plonk the other half on top. Pour the rest of the chocolate ganache over the top of the cake, letting it drap over.

Leave for a couple of hours or until set.


This is the second of my entries in the Ultimate Chocolate Cake Challenge!

Lighter-Than-Air Chocolate Cake

When Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella emailed me about her Ultimate Chocolate Cake Challenge, there was no way I could say no. My biggest problem (as it always seems to be with these kinds of challenges) was choosing which chocolate cake to choose! So, I chose two. The first is this Lighter-Than-Air Chocolate Cake courtesy of Deb at Smitten Kitchen.

I've never made a layer cake before. I tend to be a bit of scaredy cat when it comes to big baking endeavours and anything with more than one layer qualifies as a big baking endeavour to me! I wanted to make a cake that was different to what I'd normally choose to bake.

The cake is fabulously light and airy, quite unexpected when at first glance it's just a flourless cake. I had some difficulty in working out when it was cooked. I took it out of the oven at 18 minutes and the top was dry to touch, but it was certainly not ready to be taken out of the pan. I put them back in and cooked them for a further 8 minutes. I'm still not entirely sure that they were cooked enough.

I cheated a little with this cake. I really wanted to do more than just two layers, but since there is only two of us to eat it, I thought a massive four layer beast would be too much. So, I cheated. I made two cakes in my smallest springform tins and then cut them in half. Voila! 4 layers.


The cream frosting is amazing. As I had no Grand Marnier, I made a chocolate cream using cocoa and vanilla. It was so tasty that it was all I could do not to eat it by the spoonful.

Assembled, the cake looked gorgeous and tasted fabulous. I'm so glad I tried something out of my comfort zone.

Lighter-Than-Air Chocolate Cake
from Gourmet Magazine January 2001, posted on Epicurious.
Deb at Smitten Kitchen has adapted it for a layer cake, I have halved her recipe.

For cake layers:
170g fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
3 tablespoons water
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder

For filling:
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons icing sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make cake layers: Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease two 9-inch circular cake pans and line bottoms of circles with a piece of parchment paper.

Melt chocolate with water in a small heavy saucepan over very low heat, stirring. Cool to lukewarm.

Beat yolks, 1/3 cup sugar, and salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer until thick and pale, about 5 minutes in a standing mixer or about 8 minutes with a hand-held mixer. Fold in melted chocolate until blended. Beat whites with cleaned beaters until they just hold soft peaks.

Gradually add remaining 1/3 cup sugar and beat until whites just hold stiff peaks. Fold one third of whites into melted-chocolate mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly.

Spread batter evenly over four baking pans and bake until puffed and top is dry to the touch, 15 to 30 minutes depending on your oven, rotating cakes between racks to ensure they bake evenly. Transfer pans to cooling racks and if necessary, loosen edges with a knife.

Sift cocoa powder over top of cake layers and place a piece of waxed paper over the top of the pans. Place a baking sheet over paper and invert cake onto it, gently peeling off wax paper lining. Place layers in the freezer for about an hour, until they are firm enough to be carefully lifted without breaking.

Make filling: Beat cream with icing sugar, cocoa and vanilla with cleaned beaters until it just holds stiff peaks.

Fill cake: Bring first cake layer out of the freezer and arrange on platter, cocoa side down. Cut the cake in half. Spread one-eighth of filling evenly over the cake. Gently place the other half of the cake, cocoa side down, over the filling. Spread another one-eighth of the filling over the cake. Repeat this process with the other cake.

Keep cake in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it. Two hours should be more than enough to assure that the layers are no longer frozen.

Dark chocolate grated into curls with a vegetable peeler makes for an excellent garnish.

This is one of my entries in the Ultimate Chocolate Cake Challenge!

Spaghetti Bolognaise

I love the idea of Gordon Ramsay's Cookalong Live and I'm very excited that it is a series. I'm less excited about it only being shown in UK and that I'm not able to see it. I've been watching all of the videos on YouTube and one of them is a instructional video on how to make a bolognaise sauce.

I love spaghetti bolognaise but I rarely make it because I can never get the flavour the way I want it, or the way I remember it tasting when my mother made it. I have faith in Gordon though, so we gave his recipe a try.

The ingredients are pretty standard, with a few differences in the milk and the worcestershire. I also added a beef stock cube to make it taste more meaty. We served it with some organic spaghetti and it was the most amazing meal. The best spaghetti bolognaise I have had in years. It would be equal to my mum's bolognaise, which is my favourite. It was meaty and tomato-y and full of flavour. It was awesome and it will be the only way I make bolognaise in the future.

Bolognaise Sauce
from Gordon Ramsay's Cookalong Live episode 2

2 tbsp olive oil
½ large onion, peeled
1 large carrot, peeled
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 pinches dried oregano
300g minced beef
1 tbsp tomato purée (I used tomato paste)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
30ml (2 tbsp) red wine
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 x beef stock cube
50ml milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a hot pan. Grate the onion and carrot and crush the garlic before frying together. Season with the bay leaf, a pinch of oregano, Worcestershire sauce and a little salt and pepper. Allow the onion to soften before making a well in the centre of the pan. Place the mince in the middle of the pan and stir to break it up. Add the tomato puree and allow to cook out for 30 seconds. Continue until all the meat has browned nicely. Add the wine and cook off the alcohol before adding the tomatoes. Leave to simmer for a further 2-3 minutes. Finally add the milk, turn off the heat and set aside.

Serve over cooked pasta.

Tandoori from a jar...

You know the times when you really need to go grocery shopping because there's dinner-related nothing in the house but some chicken breast fillets, rice and a cupboard full of random jars and bottles.

The lucky dip from the pantry pulled out a jar of tandoori paste and some mango chutney. The mango chutney was well passed its time, but the tandoori paste worked quite well when mixed with some random buttermilk.

Cinnamon Cookies

I was browsing through the forums on Recipezaar looking at all the ways the posters have cut their grocery spending and looking at the budget recipes. One of these low-cost recipes was this recipe for Cinnamon Cookies.

They are really simple cookies and they can be made from ingredients that I always have on hand. They are tasty too!

I've made them twice since discovering the recipe. Both times I have not rolled them in cinnamon sugar before baking becaues I'm lazy. The first time I made it as written and I found them to be quite overbearingly sweet. It could have been a good thing, as you could only have one or two at a time before they starting hurting your teeth, but I wanted a nice gentle cookie. I loved the Classic Nibblers from Mrs Fields and I was looking for a cookie similar to that, since Mrs Fields no longer make the Classic Nibblers - why? oh why?? *sob*.

I tweaked the recipe the second time I made them. I used three quarters of cup of sugar instead of the whole cup and I used half brown sugar and half caster sugar. I added a bit more cinnamon to the second batch also. The second batch were amazing. They were soft (because I tried to keep the cooking time to an absolute minimum) and heady with cinnamon, and they didn't have that sickly sweet too-much-sugar taste to them.

I took them to work and shared them around and the concensus was "more please!"

Cinnamon Cookies
adapted from PetesNina on Recipezaar

3/4 cup sugar (half caster sugar, half brown sugar)
113g butter, softened
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Cream together sugar and butter; beat in egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend well.

Shape the dough into small balls. I used (15m) tablespoon sized scoops.

Set cookies 1-inch apart on lightly greased cookie sheets.

Bake at 180° for 10 minutes or till the edges are lightly browned.

Cool slightly on pans, then remove to racks to cool completely.

Nigella's Pasta with Peas (supposedly), Ham and Cream

Sarah from Sarah Cooks posted about three Nigella pasta recipes and this one in particular caught my eye. DD cooked dinner for us earlier in the week and happily up-ended a 600g packet of pasta into the boiling water not realising that that much pasta would feed the two us many times over. So, we ended up with a huge bowl of leftover pasta in the fridge and we resolved to actually eat it rather than having it go to where our leftovers normally go.

DD had his pasta with a sauce made from some pesto and a little bit of white wine vinegar, but I decided to give this one a try. We don't have any peas, so this is a pea-less version.

Its sinfully yummy, as pasta coated in cream would be. I loved it but I know that I'm going to have to make this one a "sometimes food" as Cookie Monster would say. But, it gives me the same creamy satisfaction as carbonara does and it's much less risky than carbonara!

Nigella does give measurements for her recipe, but I just did things by eye as I only had some leftover ham and a small amount of cream.

Pasta with Peas, Ham and Cream
adapted from Feast by Nigella Lawson

leftover pasta
ham, diced (I used sliced sandwich ham)
cream
parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Reheat the leftover pasta by running it under hot water.

Heat a frypan over a medium heat, add the ham. Cook the ham slightly so that it starts to brown and crisp. Add some cream (until it looks like it will coat your pasta, you don't need as much as you would think though) and about 3 tbs of grated parmesan. Stir gently to heat through then pour over pasta and toss.

Yum!

Nigella's Cold Soba Noodles

If you are looking for a quick and easy noodle recipe for a lunch or picnic, Nigella's Cold Soba Noodles are an awesome choice. They are wonderfully tasty and so easy.

Nigella gives measurements in her recipe, whever I make this I do tend to just throw things in the bowl. It hasn't failed yet.

Cold Soba Noodles
from Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson

1/3 cup sesame seeds
salt
225g soba noodles
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
5 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
5 spring onions

Toasted the sesame seeds in a dry pan over a high heat until they look golden brown, and tip them into a bowl.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add some salt. Put in the soba noodles and cook them for about 6 minutes (or according to package instructions) until they are tender but not mushy. Have a bowl of iced water waiting to plunge them into after draining.

In the bowl you are going to serve them in, mix the vinegar, soy sauce, honey and oil. Then finely slice the scallions and put them into the bowl with the cooled drained noodles and mix together thoroughly before adding the sesame seeds and tossing again.

Leave the sesame seed noodles for about half an hour to let the flavours develop, although this is not absolutely necessary or sometimes even possible. Serves 4 as part of a meal; or 2 when eaten, gratifyingly, as they are.

Many thanks to this article on Slashfood for the recipe (because my copy of Forever Summer is in the other room and too far away!)

Banana Cupcakes

I felt like baking the other day, but it wasn't a specific thing that I wanted to bake. I fluffed around looking for stuff I could make with what I had on hand and I spied three nearly-black bananas languishing in the fruit bowl. I decided to try these banana cupcakes from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook.

They were really easy to make, but my goodness they had a lot of sugar. They taste quite nice but the outside is very sticky, I think its from the massive amount of sugar caramelising. It's interesting that the huge amount of sugar still didn't make the cupcakes overly sweet, they had a very nice subdued sweetness and it really let the banana taste come through. I just don't like it that I have to wash my hands every time I touch one. I don't think that they are anything special, I think I'll stick to more of a banana bread recipe if I'm going to do something with bananas in the future.

Recipe to come soon.

Rice Paper Rolls

I love the idea of rice paper rolls, unfortunately I haven't had one that meets my taste expectations. They seem to rely on their dipping sauce to give them flavour and I want rolls that can stand up by themselves.

For these, I browned some chicken mince along with some Thai marinade (from a jar - lemongrass, ginger, coriander etc), julienned ginger and soy. I used the mince, some Chinese cabbage, carrot, spring onions, capsicum and coriander. For the dipping sauce I mixed some light soy and sweet chilli sauce.

They weren't as strong in flavour as I had wanted them to be, but they were still really satisfying. Adding the mince gave it more body and texture than a vegetarian roll, and because there was a very low mince to vegetable ratio, there was still the fresh crispiness when you took your first bite. Next time I will experiment with the mince more. I think I can get more flavour out of it.

They were fresh and fun and tasty. I had to stop myself eating all of them as I made them because I wanted some for lunch. I'm happy with these, but I know I can do better so I'll definately make them again.

Almost No-Knead Bread

I wanted to make bread this weekend. I have a great recipe for semolina bread rolls which are very yummy and I was planning on making them. I had some troubles finding semolina though. I checked all sorts of places, from supermarkets to delis, and no one had any. The last time I went looking for semolina I don't remember it being this elusive. I ended up making a special trip to Pennisi's and got all excited when I snagged the last packet in the Mexican section. I paid for it, and then walked out of the store, past where they keep all the flours and stuff where there were at least 4 different types of semolina in good supply that I could have chosen. Oh well, I know for next time.

Anyway, none of that really matters because when I got home and checked my email I found an America's Test Kitchen or Cooks Illustrated newsletter where they talked about this Almost No-Knead Bread. The recipe has a video! I watched the video and it looked easy so my semolina rolls went out the window and I decided to give this one a try.

It turned out really well, it's light and soft with a nice chewy texture and an open crumb. The crust is just slightly crispy, almost more on the chewy side. I have to say that I don't mind, really crusty breads are not my cup of tea. The flavour is really nice and complex. If I had to be critical, I'd say that it is a real pain in the backside to cut and I think it's just a tad on the chewy side. I'm not going to be critical though, because this is the most bread-like any bread I've made from scratch has turned out and I'm proud of it.

Almost No-Knead Bread
from Cooks Illustrated Magazine

3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting work surfact
1/4 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 tsp table salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tbs water, at room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs mild flavoured lager
1 tbs white vinegar

Whisk flour, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer, and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms.


Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.


Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.


About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch-long, 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

Teriyaki Chicken with Soba Noodle Salad

I was lazy one night and didn't make my lunch for the following day, leaving me rushing around in the morning looking for something to have for lunch. I had a third of a chicken breast fillet in the fridge and I didn't really want to go to the trouble of sides. I had this recipe for a teriyaki chicken with soba noodle salad kicking around in del.icio.us so I decided to give it a try.

It was really easy, fresh and tasty. It was lovely at room temperature too. It was such a star I made it again for the next day using beef. I love soba noodles.

Teriyaki Chicken with Soba Noodle Salad
from AWW website

1½ tablespoons (30ml) Japanese soy sauce
1½ tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon cooking sake
3 teaspoons sugar
2 chicken breast fillets, cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Soba noodle salad
1 x 90g soba noodles
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon grated ginger
a few drops of sesame oil
1 green onion, cut into thin strips
1 Lebanese cucumber, sliced into ribbons
pinch salt
Coriander for garnish (optional)

Combine soy, mirin, sake and sugar and mix well. Add chicken and stir to coat.

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat; add chicken and stir fry until cooked through. Remove and set aside in a warm place, loosely covered with foil to rest.

Reduce heat to low and pour remaining sauce into the same pan chicken was cooked in. Simmer a few minutes or until sauce has reduced and thickened.

Meanwhile, cook soba noodles in boiling water, drain and refresh with cold water and drain again. Toss with remaining ingredients and season with salt.

To serve, pile noodle salad onto plate. Add the chicken, drizzle over remaining sauce and garnish with coriander.