Ok, making this takes slightly longer than pouring boiling water into a plastic pot, but not by much. And just wait until you taste these utterly unctuous noodles, simultaneously sweet and lemony, with a hint of chilli heat and larded with chunks of chicken and pepper. I could eat it all over again.
Yes, this is food porn. And no, I haven't read 50 Shades of Grey, I prefer to read cookbooks in bed. But this is a spanking dish.
Lemon Chilli Chicken Noodles (serves 2)
Ingredients:
About 130g medium egg noodles (2 nests)
400g skinless, boneless chicken thigh fillets
1 heaped tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp oil + 1 tspn toasted sesame oil
1 small bunch of spring onions, white parts sliced into large-ish chunks, green parts finely sliced
3 fat cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 big thumb of root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 red and 1 green pepper, de-seeded and cut into fat dice
1/2 lemon, very finely sliced
For the sauce:
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp hot chilli sauce (I used Sriracha)
1 tbsp honey
Method:
Prepare the noodles according to the packet instructions but halt the cooking when they're al dente, ie still have a bit of bite (grrrr). Drain in a sieve and rinse under cold water to arrest the cooking, then drain well again. Set aside.
Whisk together the sauce ingredients and set aside. Cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks and coat all over with the cornflour. Heat the oil in a wok or deep, non-stick frying pan until it's sizzling and stir-fry the chicken, in batches if necessary, until cooked through and tinged with brown. Remove the hot hunks with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Add the white parts of the spring onions to the wok along with the garlic and ginger. Stir fry for one minute. Throw in the diced peppers and lemon slices and stir fry for another minute or two. Put the chicken back in, add the noodles (de-clumping them if necessary: think of running your fingers through that mane of hair) and mix well with the other ingredients.
Now pour in the sauce and let it sizzle up, still tossing the ingredients, until everything is well-coated and the sauce has reduced to little more than a sticky glaze. Scoop into bowls and serve garnished with the spring onion tops.
Eat, enjoy and take a bow - you're hot stuff.
