Bang Bang Chicken

D came to sit with me one evening when I was watching my recorded versions of Channel 72's Kitchen Time. Ching's Kitchen was on and she was making Bang Bang Chicken Salad. D is a huge satay fan and he really liked the look of this recipe. Luckily, we hadn't had dinner yet and we had all the ingredients, so we decided to give it a try.

First you poach the chicken. Poaching chicken isn't my favourite way of cooking chicken as I have a tendency to overcook it. I watched this one quite carefully though and it turned out okay (phew!). You are supposed to shred the chicken once it cools slightly, but I was lazy and just sliced it.

The sauce turned out completely different from what you saw on her show. Ching's was runny and saucy but ours was incredibly thick. It tasted okay, but I added more oil and rice wine than specified and it was still thick. I can't imagine our peanut butter was so gluggy to make that happen, so I'm guessing this is one of those recipes that hasn't been transcribed as well as it could have been. The sauce was also really really sweet. I added some soy sauce to calm it down, but next time (if there is a next time) I might try it without the brown sugar.

D enjoyed it and I didn't mind it, but I've previously made Nick Nairn's Bang Bang Chicken Salad and that was so much better than this one I think I'll stick with Nick from now on.

Bang Bang Chicken Salad
from Ching's Kitchen by Ching He-Huang

For the chicken

1 large chicken breast, 250g, boneless, skin removed
1 handful spring onions, chopped

For the sauce

2 tbsp groundnut oil (I used peanut oil)
2 small mild red chillies, seeds removed and chopped
2 piece ginger
1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted
1 tbsp peanut butter, smooth
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp brown sugar
1 dash of rice wine

Place the chicken in a small saucepan, pour over enough water to cover and add a handful of chopped spring onions. Cover and poach the chicken for about six minutes over a low heat. Remove the chicken from the pan and slice when cool enough to handle.

Heat the oil in a wok over a high heat and add the chopped chillies, ginger, toasted sesame seeds, peanut butter, sesame oil, brown sugar and rice wine to the pan. Turn down the heat and bring the sauce to a simmer. Cook down for about 1-2 minutes before removing the wok from the heat and leaving the sauce to cool.

Serve the chicken over rice and with some sugar snap peas and bean sprouts, dollop over the sauce.