Category: chicken

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Crispy Chicken Stir Fry

Crispy Chicken Stir Fry

This is one of my regular dishes, quick and easy to cook and tasty.

I took some skinless and boneless chicken thighs and cut it into strips. I then coated the chicken in seasoned flour. I use gluten free (rice) flour, which I find provides a better coating, and stays crispy.

The chicken was then shallow fried in the wok, until the chicken was cooked and the coating crispy. I removed it from the wok, and placed it to one side. I removed the excess oil and gave the wok a wipe with some kitchen towel (the wok will be hot so this has to be done with care).

I then cooked the stir fry vegetables. When they were ready I added the sauce, I used a Wagamama Korean BBQ sauce this time. I added back the chicken and tossed the vegetables and the chicken through the sauce. 

I served this with some sticky rice.

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Vietnamese Curry

Vietnamese Curry

I am quite a fan of the Spice Tailor range of kits and sauces. The Keralan Coconut Curry pack is one I use regularly. I noticed at Morrisons that the range had been extended with some new flavours. One that caught my eye was the Vietnamese Curry Sauce.

Vietnamese Curry Sauce pack details.

Inspired by Vietnamese restaurant versions of the dish, our Vietnamese curry kit layers the warmth of a curry spice blend, the sweetness of coconut and sugar, alongside the tang of tamarind, lemongrass and ginger with truly mouth-watering results. This wonderfully vibrant Vietnamese curry is delicious with chicken, seafood or vegetables . If you’re looking for an extra flourish, top with Thai basil, fresh sliced chilli or a squeeze of zingy lime.

I took some chicken and chopped vegetables and cooked them with the sauce according to the instructions. I served it with some rice.

The flavour was really nice. I think I prefer the Keralan Coconut Curry pack, but even so this was good for a change. It’s quite mild as curries go, so not too spicy. I think if I had the Thai basil and a squeeze of lime, as suggested, it would really have enhanced the dish.

So good pack, easy to use, tasty results.

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Sizzling(ish) Chicken

I was staying in London close to Euston Station, my hotel was the Travelodge. Went out with the intention of having something to eat, I wasn’t that hungry, so did think about getting some tacos from Tortilla, however Tortilla was really only takeaway. I did then think about Prezzo, but in the end as it was now getting late, I went back to the hotel and had chicken and chips.

The menu called it sizzling chicken. Well I think what I got wasn’t sizzling chicken, it was pretty obvious that the chicken was not cooked on the chargrill (the kitchen probably didn’t have a chargrill). The chicken was then dressed with a spicy sauce. Accompanying the chicken was some chips, salad, coleslaw and corn on the cob. 

It wasn’t awful, but it certainly wasn’t inspiring and it wouldn’t be a dish I would order again. I know now I should have been more organised and got out earlier to get something to eat, this was London, it’s not as though there isn’t a wide variety of places to go out and eat!

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Time for some Gas Street Social tacos

I met up with some friends in Birmingham for drinks at the Gas Street Social at The Mailbox in Birmingham. We decided to that we would stay where we were and eat at the Gas Street Social.

Though I visit Birmingham on a regular basis, pretty much going at least once a year I was a little surprised that I didn’t realise I hadn’t heard of or visited The Mailbox before. There are quite a few places to eat there. Somewhere I would probably now visit in the future. Of course Birmingham is a big place and in the main I have usually been to places around the ICC and Brindley Place.

Looking over the menu I went down the small plates route. I was quite hungry, as I had missed out on having a big lunch and it had been a long day.

I went with four small plates, these are only really big enough for one, and not entirely suitable for sharing.

The first of my dishes to appear was the achiote chicken taco.

A single soft taco filled with achiote chicken, and dressed with sauces, pickled red onions and coriander. The chicken was nice and tasty, as were the accompaniments. The taco was either stale or overcooked, but wasn’t as soft as I would have preferred.

The second small plate was the cajun fried shrimp, a soft shell taco, crispy cajun shrimp, sautéed shallots, peppers, and spicy Baja sauce.

Some good flavours in there, but the prawns were a little greasy for me.

My final taco was a cauliflower tinga taco. 

This was a crispy corn tostola, blackened cauli, and black bean hummus. It was nice. This was very similar to the achiote chicken taco in both appearance and flavour. I did like the black bean hummus.

Alongside I had some loaded tater tots, which were loaded with salsa, guacamole, and cheese sauce.

Though not a huge dish, it was quite filling. I enjoyed it very much. The salsa was nice, zingy and tasty.

There was a little too much food, so much so, that I probably could have had one less taco.

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Grilled Chicken

I was staying at the Quy Mill Hotel & Spa just outside Cambridge. I had chosen Quy Mill Hotel as not only was it within budget, but also had a really interesting restaurant with an intriguing menu. I was a little disappointed to find out, when I arrived, that it had closed the day before.

We would like to inform you that The Waterwheel Restaurant will be temporarily closing as we embark on some exciting plans for the future.  

If I had known that I probably would have chosen a different hotel. As a result I was limited by the bar menu, which was not as exciting as the restaurant menu. I decided  I would have the soup followed by the grilled chicken.

The soup was okay, but nothing special, so I wasn’t expecting much from the grilled chicken. 

Grilled Chicken

The chicken came with some salad leaves, roasted tomatoes and a portion of fries. The flattened chargrilled chicken breast was cooked well, probably a little over as it was dry in places. 

I think I would have preferred some vegetables with this and, say, a mushroom sauce. This would have made for a better meal.

As with the soup, it was nothing special, though it could have been so much better.

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Tres Tacos from Tortilla

tortilla

I have to say I am a bit of a fan of the tacos from Tortilla, and is one of my go to places for a light lunch. They make a nice fresh and tasty, but light meal. This time I tried out the branch of Tortilla at Cabot Circus. I had three chicken tacos with all the trimmings and added guacamole as an extra.

Tres Tacos from Tortilla

What I like about the food, is it tastes very fresh, true the chicken has been around for a while, but combined with the fresh salad, salsa, and toppings, they are delicious. Can be a bit messy to eat, so I usually use a fork, but in theory you can eat them by hand.  Really enjoyed these tacos and they made a nice lunch.

I do wonder why places charge extra for guacamole, and in the case of Tortilla they also charge extra for hot cheese sauce. Can make a cheaper deal a little more pricey.

One time I will get a burrito from Tortilla and see how that is.

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itsu Chicken Ramen

I hadn’t anticipated making a ramen, but I had popped to Waitrose to, essentially get some bread, but had a browse and in their stir fry meal deal they had itsu Chicken Gyoza Dumplings,  itsu Chicken Ramen Brilliant Broth, and itsu Restaurant Ramen Original Noodles.

I decided I would have ramen for tea.

So, what I did was first chargrill the chicken in a frying pan and kept this warm to one side. I stir fried some vegetables in the pan I had cooked the chicken. After they were cooked, I did some mushrooms.

While this was cooking I cooked the noodles in boiling water. The gyoza dumplings were heated up in the microwave. I also heated up the itsu Chicken Ramen Brilliant Broth in another pan.

In a large bowl, I placed the cooked noodles, the vegetables, and the chicken gyoza dumplings. I added the itsu Chicken Ramen Brilliant Broth, before topping with sliced chargrilled chicken. I garnished the dish with the cooked mushrooms and a boiled egg.

I was really pleased with the end result. So much so, that I did a version with a roasted duck breast.

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Time for Wagamama in Basildon

I was on my way to East Anglia and was staying over in Festival Leisure Park in Basildon at the Travelodge.

Across the retail park are various places to eat. I did walk around looking at various outlets, thinking about what I wanted. In the end I went to Wagamama with the plan that I wouldn’t have what I usually have at Wagamama. For a starter (or is it a side) I had the pulled shiitake crispy otsumami. 

This is six squares of crispy fried rice soaked in a soy + yuzu dressing, topped with smashed avocado + edamame and sriracha mayo, garnished with coriander cress.

These were really interesting and tasty. They were also very pretty. They were quite an intense flavour, but I liked them.

For my main course I went with the (new) crispy chicken sambal fry.

Described as lightly battered chicken coated in garlic + red pepper powder, mild tomato sambal, vibrant pickled slaw. coconut rice. chilled turmeric-stained egg, amai sauce on the side.

I wasn’t as impressed with this dish as I thought I would be. The chicken was disappointing, and I didn’t really like the mild tomato sambal sauce. I enjoyed the plate of food, but I wasn’t blown away by it. Think I should have had my usual mushroom yaki soba.

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A different Bento Box

When I buy a bento box from She Sells Sushi in Bristol I usually go for the beef donburi and a chicken hirata bun. On a recent visit to the Finale Reach Street food market I went with the bento box, but this time I went with the beef donburi and for a change the chicken katsu.

The chicken katsu was tasty. There was crispy chicken with katsu sauce on top of rice with pickles and crispy onions.

The chicken freshly cooked had a crisp coating. The katsu sauce was nice, not too spicy, but with a hint of fruitiness.

The beef donburi was slow cooked teriyaki beef rib on a bed of rice, topped with crispy onions and pickles.

This was delicious as usual, with tender beef and great flavour.

Overall I think there was too much rice for a light lunch,  but the rest of the box was delicious.

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Burger and Tacos in Leeds

Avoiding a hotel meal in Leeds, myself and a colleague headed out for something to eat. We didn’t go to far and went to the Editor’s Draught, a pub that sells food on Wellington Street.

I was hungry, having missed lunch, so I went with their big burger, The Triple Threat.

It’s the biggest and baddest of the stacks, and it’s piled up with triple beef patties, triple bacon, triple burger cheese slices and triple onion rings drizzled with cheese sauce, in a toasted bun with ketchup, burger sauce, iceberg lettuce, chopped onion and gherkin, with skin-on fries and BBQ sauce.

It was only a couple of pounds more than a standard burger and came with onion rings.

For a starter, well probably a side dish I had the chicken tacos which came with salsa, guacamole and sour cream.

I enjoyed both dishes, they weren’t out of this world, but I wasn’t expecting an out of this world experience. The burger was a nice burger, good flavours and if anything impractical to eat with your hands, as it was so tall.

The chicken tacos were a nice snack.

Overall a quick tasty meal, just what I needed.