My gorgeous cousin, Ashleigh, has recently moved into a new apartment and as part of her house-warming gift I decided to give her my first official cooking lesson. It was such fun, lots of laughs, drinking and eating. The week before the lesson she asked what my best dish was, and I actually could not answer her, after a couple of sleepless nights I decided that my noodle bowls are always delicious and they are super easy to make.  So that is exactly what we made.

Ash and I are 4 days apart, growing up we did everything together, so it was fitting to give her, her first cooking lesson ❤

INGREDIENTS

7 free-range chicken thighs, deboned and skinnless
1 tsp chinese five-spice
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper
5 nests of egg noodles
4 heaped tablespoons hoisin sauce
Low sodium soya sauce
2 limes
5 radishes, sliced
1 punnet bean sprouts
1 packet shelled peanuts
2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 small bunch of coriander
1 small bunch of fresh basil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
5 cm thumb of ginger, grated
1-2 red chillies, roughly chopped

METHOD
Serves 4
Preparation 10 minutes
Cooking time 20 minutes

Boil the kettle, wash the radishes and bean sprouts.

In a marinating dish mix together the Chinese five-spice, sesame oil, olive oil, soya sauce, sea salt, black pepper and the chicken thighs, cover and place in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. 

In a large bowl add the egg noodles and fill with boiling water, making sure the noodles are properly immersed. Set aside.

Then roughly chop the spring onions, coriander, basil, chilli and grate the ginger, chuck all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz into a paste.

Place a small frying pan on medium heat and toast the peanuts and sesame seeds, keeping a close eye on them. Then set them aside to cool down.

On a plastic chopping board, cut the marinated chicken thighs into thin strips. Place a large wok on high-heat, once it has heated up, pour in a tablespoon of olive oil and half of the chicken – if your wok is not big enough do the chicken in small batches, this ensures that the chicken fries and doesn’t boil. Cook the chicken for 3 minutes, until opaque, then remove from the wok and place in a bowl, keeping it close to the stove.

Once all the chicken has finished cooking, add a glug of olive oil and a few drops of sesame seed oil to the wok, wait 30 seconds then add the blitzed paste, fry for 1 minute. While the paste to frying, drain the soaked noodles and place in the wok. Toss, then add the cooked chicken,  juice of two limes, the hoisin sauce and 2 teaspoons of low-sodium soya sauce, toss for 2 minutes and you’re ready to serve.

Take the wok to the table, along with the sliced radishes, bean sprouts, toasted seeds and nuts, and some fresh coriander and basil, for a fresh and crunchy garnish.