Honey soy chicken with rice ... in the Thermomix

I'm making an effort to cook more often now that we are settling down into the new apartment (soon to be known as The Apartment once I get comfortable enough with it and think of it as such ... might take a few months yet!). It's just more economical to have more meals cooked and eaten at home. I've talked about how expensive it is to eat out here and about eating out economically here.

The challenge with working full time and cooking meals is ... well ... time ... and planning, and energy!!

I usually get home between 6:30pm and 7pm, some days a little later and I'm also usually knackered. I just don't have the energy to do any heavy duty cooking.

I'm on the hunt for recipes that are quick, easy, tasty and do not require a lot of ingredients.

Note to self: This just reminded me that I have recipe book that has all the recipes with only 4 ingredients. Must dig that out and study it.

Tonight's recipe has a few more than 4 ingredients but it's done in the Thermomix.

The Thermomix for me is like cheat cooking.

Just throw it all into the machine and start pressing buttons. :-)

The reason I ended up with this recipe is because I did a search on the Thermomix community and entered in the stuff that I had on hand, which was chicken, onion and capsicum. It spat out a few options and this was what I decided to go with. I had most everything except the ginger (I'm substituting with ground ginger powder instead), the broccoli (which I picked up after lunch today) and the baby corn (which I've decided to go without and substitute with corn kernels instead because I have that). Oh, I also don't have any toasted sesame seeds, so I'm going to go without that - not a big fan of sesame seeds anyway.

So, here's the RECIPE for those of you who have a Thermomix and want to try it:

Ingredients:

• 1 cm ginger
• 2 clove garlic
• 1 onion - Peeled & Halved
• 30 g olive oil
• 650 g chicken breast - Cubed
• 140 g soy sauce
• 200 g water
• 160 g honey
• 1 tsp paprika
• 150 g broccoli - Cut into Florets
• 100 g carrots - sliced
• 100 g Capsicum - diced
• 100 g baby corn
• 1 tsp cornflour
• Steamed Rice To Serve
• Toasted Sesame Seeds (optional)

Instructions:

• Chop ginger and garlic for 5 sec/Speed 7
• Add Onion and chop for 3 sec/Speed 7
• Add oil and saute 2 mins/100 deg/Speed 1
• Add chicken and cook 2 mins/100 deg/ Reverse / Soft speed
• Add remaining ingredients and cook 15 mins/100 deg/ Reverse / Soft speed and use the spatula a few times to help mix everything in
• Replace MC with steamer basket and cook 5 mins/100 deg/ Reverse / Soft speed
• Serve on rice sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds

My microwave is dead and waiting to be either repaired or replaced by the rental agent, so I had to cook the rice first (also in the Thermomix) and kept it warm so that I could serve it with the chicken. I used a doodat that came with the Thermomix called a ThermoServer which is basically a thermos but shaped like a bowl with the lid to keep food warm. If the microwave was working, I'd have cooked the rice and then not worried about keeping it warm, 'cos I would have been able to just warm it back up in the microwave.

For the record, I have 3 MAJOR appliances not working properly in my kitchen right now - the stove, the oven and the microwave. Basically, if not for the Thermomix, I would not be able to cook in the dang kitchen because without those three items, it's basically not a functioning kitchen.

People who have followed me on Facebook and Twitter will know that I have had the rental agents from hell and Miss Lazy Pants rental agent didn't bother to check that all the appliances were working prior to us moving in. There are other things that she didn't do too but that's a whole other story and a long one at that. I won't bore you with the details.

Anyhow, the verdict ...

The sauce was very liquidy (watery?) in the Thermomix when the time was done based on the cooking instructions, so after it was cooked, I put it into a big pan and brought it back to a simmer and tossed in a tablespoon of corn flour mixed in some water to thicken it back up. After I put in the corn flour, I let it simmer for about a minute or two just to thicken up. That seemed to work very well. Of course, after the dish cooled completely the sauce was quite thick but that can be fixed with just a little water while reheating the leftovers (if there are any!).

I had no idea how it was going to taste but the kitchen smelled wonderful while it was cooking. When I was putting in the soy sauce and honey, I had thought it was a lot of soy sauce and honey, but it turned into a very tasty dish. The Boy had seconds and there's still a little left for the next day or so as leftovers (we like our leftovers in this household!). I asked The Boy if he wanted the dish cooked again another time for dinner and he said that he was happy to eat it again, so I guess I'll be cooking it again at some point.

This one's a keeper!



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