Steaming Chinese Chicken Noodle Pots.
April 12, 2013 in Chicken Dishes, Chinese Food, Cooking with Pork, Dinner Divas, Janice Tripepi
Steaming hot spicy Chinese Chicken and Fresh Noodle Pots
My goodness but 2013 had taken off with a huge bang. Our Project Management and Engineering baby, Titan Projects has been blessed with oodles of projects and contracts. TrickyRicky, Max and I have been operating at warp speed. This combined with my joining the gym and embarking on a pretty strict calorie restricted diet has seen la casa Tripepi eating a really healthy and well balanced diet. I have shed close to 12kgs and I am loving life and my new found waste line!
TrickyRicky has been travelling abroad to Sri Lanka on business so it’s all systems go for the Tripepi’s so far this year. I could not be any more grateful for this abundance and I am determined to stay focused and keep our diet light and healthy. We are going to Mauritius on a family holiday in September; so I still need to shed another 6kgs in order to feel gorgeous in my cozzie!
It is really important to eat ALL of the food groups when dieting; especially if you are working out at the same time. If you cut out the white carbohydrates such as pasta, rice and potato you will eventually pay the price. I did this, and found that despite sticking to my workout plan, which is at least one hour every day except Sundays, and not exceeding my daily 1728 calories food allowance, I stopped losing weight! Horror of horrors, the display on my scale read exactly the same for two weeks in a row. I chatted with the personal trainers at the gym and was advised to include some carbs into my diet at lunch time. I did this and WAMMO BAMMO …. I shed 1,6kgs in a week! Hallelujah! Carbs rock!
It’s like everything in life – moderation is the key to success! Fresh pasta has fewer calories than dried pasta for some reason, so I have been churning out fresh noodles and pasta for la famiglia Tripepi. Max is in noodle heaven! This Chinese inspired steaming noodle bowl is a real winter warmer; it is jam packed with a delicious balance of textures and flavours AND doesn’t break the calorie bank!
Whether the Chinese or the Italian or whomever else invented the noodle, they are always a hit. This type of fresh pasta is just so easy and very economical to make. Include your kiddies in this activity if you have the time and energy, they get a real kick out of creating their own noodles!
During the shooting of Dinner Divas I got to spend time with the sponsors of the show. SASKO were quick to recognise my love for their product. As you know, I churn out loads of pasta and noodles. Flour is the cornerstone ingredient in any Italian kitchen and they have very kindly given me the pleasure of developing some interesting recipes using their best soft and fluffy flour. I am very proud of this acknowledgement and look forward to sharing these new recipes with you.
Chinese Steaming Chicken Noodle Pot
Makes 8 portions
- A warming winter Chinese Steaming Chicken & Fresh Noodle Pot
Ingredients for the broth
1 free range chicken
2 cups of Chinese Shao Hsing rice wine (you can replace this with dry sherry if you don’t have any Chinese rice wine)
8 cloves of garlic – roughly chopped
1 large thumb – about 6cm of ginger, sliced (no need to peel this)
200ml honey*
5 star anise
2 cups of light soy sauce
2 spring onions washed and cut into 3
Cold Water – enough to just cover the chicken
*Top Tip: You can replace the honey with 200ml of Xylitol to reduce the calorie content
Method
Joint the chicken. Place the rice wine, garlic, honey, star anise, ginger, jointed chicken and spring onions to a heavy based pot.
- Star Anise adds a rich spicy flavour
Bring to the boil and reduce to a gentle simmer for 15 minutes.
- This poaching liquid forms the base of your dish.
Remove the poached chicken pieces to a dish, cover to keep the meat nice and juicy and set aside.
- Remove the chicken from the poaching liquid, cover and set aside.
Bring the poaching liquid back up to the boil and reduce by half to condense all of the flavours. Use a colander in a bowl to drain out all of the aromatics and set the broth aside.
Ingredients for the Noodles
- Soft and fluffy Sasko flour
200g light and fluffy SASKO Flour
2 eggs
5ml olive oil
5ml water
Method
Place your flour into your mixer or food processor
Add the eggs, water and olive oil and mix until it forms into dough
Now, any dough behaves differently depending on the weather. When I made this dough it was a really hot and humid day in Durban and I had to add a little extra flour to get the dough to the right consistency– if it’s very dry add a little (5ml) water and if it’s too wet add a teaspoon at a time of flour until you see that it’s starting to come together in a mass.
Turn the dough out onto a clean, floured surface and bring it together into a ball.
- Bring the dough together by kneading for about 5 minutes. You are looking for a ball of smooth dough that feels like a ball of playdough.
Now, you get to work out any frustrations you have. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes by which time it will form a nice smooth ball.
Cover with cling film and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.
- Wrap the dough up in a piece of cling wrap and rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Once the dough has rested, take it out of the fridge and cut it into 3 pieces
Flatten each piece and dust with a little soft and fluffy flour
Run each piece through the pasta machine on the largest setting, folding the dough in on itself two times between each rolling
- Fold the dough in on itself twice and put through the pasta machine on the largest setting at least 3 times.
Now roll it through each setting, reducing the size each time.
My pasta machine starts on number, being the largest setting and reduces to number 7. I rolled the dough to number 6.
Dust each piece again and put through the side that has the cutter.
- Beautiful soft and fresh noodles ready for the pot!
Set aside to add to the broth at the last minute just before serving.
Now to put the whole delish dish together
The beauty of this dish is you can add pretty much any vegetables that you and your family enjoy the most.
Ingredients
5cm thumb of peeled ginger cut into batons
3 red chillies finely chopped
6 cloves of garlic finely chopped
100ml oil – your choice, either olive oil, peanut oil or sunflower oil is fine
200g cherry tomatoes
4tbs bean sprouts
200g shiitake mushrooms sliced – any mushroom will do so feel free to substitute
4 broccoli stalks sliced
200g bok choy washed and sliced
2 chicken stock cubes
Black pepper
2 cups of boiling water
Coriander – I just love to add coriander, but my family are not too keen on it so I left it out and just added it to my bowl.
2 spring onions sliced for garnishing and to add a little crunch
Method
Gently fry the garlic, ginger and chili in your choice of oil.
Add the tomatoes, bean sprouts, mushrooms, bok choy and broccoli to the pot and stir well.
Add the drained broth, two cups of boiling water and check for seasoning. I added two chicken stock cubes to deepen the chicken flavour and a good grinding of black pepper.
Bring the broth to the boil and add your fresh noodles.
They will only take two minutes to cook so don’t leave your pot and polish the silver!
To assemble your dish
Slice the chicken pieces up using a sharp knife.
Into each bowl
Place some sliced chicken
Some Noodles
Some broth with all the veggies and
Garnish with some fresh spring onion.
- And Walla! Steaming Chicken and Noodles in a Spiced Chinese Broth.
And enjoy!
This really is a meal in one dish – meat, veggies, broth and noodle heaven!
More Noodle Recipes
How about making some German Spaetzle with the kiddies
Click on this picture of Jade with her Spaetzle to go to the recipe
Click on this picture of Jade with her Spaetzle to go to the recipe
Spatzle served with crumbed chicken!
or some Asian Style Sweet and Sticky Pork Belly with Noodles
A Little Fun
This character popped onto my chopping board!
- I often see little kitchen critters in my veggies!
As always
Buon Appetito
Xxx
jan
