Authentically Asian

Black Pepper Chicken

Fortunately, these days, the variety of ingredients on the supermarket shelves and online shopping make it much easier for us to make our meals as authentic as possible.

I will, reluctantly, admit that I'm not and never been a slap-dash-chuck-anything-into-the-pot kinda cook. I more often than not have a plan and know what the end result of a dish or meal must taste and look like. If I don't have the ingredients I won't make a dish, I'll make something completely different. I don't like muddled tastes and too often when you just randomly throw things together the taste ends up a but murky and muddled, come to think of it, it's the same with anything you create, planning leads to the desired outcome.

So I usually start of with either a certain kind of protein I want to cook with or kind of taste/cuisine I feel like, then I go rummaging in the cupboard, fridge and deep freeze to see that I have everything I need, if I don't I'll scrap the idea or go to the shops to get what I need and that usually includes fresh herbs and/or fresh vegetables and/or cream. Yes, cream, sour cream and creme fraiche regularly features in a dish or as part of the meal I make. To counter balance the use of the cream I don't use a lot of oil, pre-made seasoning, sauces and powdered stuff so I control the fat, salt, sugar and preservative contents of our food. Now I'm not saying I never use these things, just not every day.

One kind of cuisine I always try and keep as authentic as possible is Asian cuisine that's why I regularly make the trip to China town in Cyrildene, Johannesburg. I can walk around there for hours and the ingredients fascinate me!

A favourite Chinese dish of mine is Black pepper chicken, I usually make the sauce myself but if I do buy pre made Asian sauces and products it is usually from the Lee Kum Kee range. It's a quality product with authentic flavours and a great kitchen stand by. During my trip to China town yesterday I picked up a jar of Lee Kum Kee black pepper sauce and it was fantastic!! Of course I added fresh ingredients to give it some oomph..

I buy the Lee Kum Kee Soy sauces for everyday use and Japanese Kikkoman for dressing and drizzling and always dark and light soy. Light for seasoning (salt) and dark for taste. Dark soy gives a delicious umami (savouryness) to a dish.

I also got some gorgeous soy pourers and different kinds of noodles, nice thick udon noodles are my absolute favourite.

Black Pepper Chicken:

Slice some chicken & Chop fresh garlic and ginger and fry in a wok or pan

Add chicken and stir-fry adding all the yummy stuff as you go along

Serve with rice or noodles - here I served it with turmeric rice and fresh coriander

Recipe:

serves about 6 (depending on how hungry/greedy you are)

Ingredients:

6 chicken breast fillets

3 tbsp corn starch

3 tbsp Soy (light)

3 tbsp Soy (dark)

15ml grated fresh Garlic

15 ml grated fresh Ginger

1/3 can Coconut milk

15ml coarse Black Peppers

1/2 jar Black pepper sauce

I don't always have the jarred stuff and this is what I usually use:

125ml coconut milk, 20ml black pepper, 15ml soy

Fresh coriander.

Method:

Cut the chicken into bite sized cubes place in a bowl.

Add corn starch, dark and light soy and mix. Leave to marinade for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Heat oil in a wok or large pan.

Add the garlic and ginger and fry while stirring for 30 seconds, taking care not to burn the garlic.

Add the chicken pieces to the pan, turn the heat down tot medium high'ish and stir fry until the chicken is 3/4 cooked, about 4 or 5 minutes. the chicken doesn't have to be brown or crispy, the meat in this recipe is butter soft done this way.

Add the coconut milk, pepper and pepper sauce.

Cook on medium high heat for a further 4 or 5 minutes to completely cook the chicken and reduce the sauce.

Taste and add more soy and pepper to season and to your taste (if necessary).

Serve over rice or noodles with chopped fresh coriander.