We had this lovely recipe for dinner this evening. I found the idea on the web, but can’t remember where now. It was a slow cooker recipe, but I just bubbled it on the hob, and I’ve tweaked it, as you do.
It’s a strong flavoured sauce, robust and delicious. A little goes a long way. It’s tastes similar to the soy, honey and sesame sauce.
Chop the chicken into small pieces. Mix all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan, except the cashews.
Bubble the sauce down until it is thick and very reduced. Add the chopped chicken. Stir in the cashews when you are ready to serve. I like them like this so they are still crunchy, if you like them softer, add the cashews at the beginning of the cooking process.
While that is happening, cook the rice until tender and drain well.
If you are using uncooked chicken, add it at the start of the cooking process of the sauce, as it reduces down.
Serve with a pile of greens. We had runner beans from the garden. You could use buttery cabbage, steamed kale, diced carrots and peas, pak choi, whatever you have.
The chicken can be swapped out for prawns, or paneer for a vegetarian version, tofu for vegan. Or use pieces of pork, cooked butter beans or chick peas.
You could use salted peanuts instead of the cashews, or any other nuts. As in the soy, honey and sesame recipe, you could add sesame seeds as well as, or instead of, the nuts.
I know this works out to more than our usual main meal amounts, but is still doable within a £1 a day budget by spreading the budget over 2 days and choosing some of the cheaper options.