Fuel My Friday: Dearing's Salt and Pepper chicken

10 Jan 2020

Is your New Years resolution to cook more? Well we've got a great recipe from marathon swimming specialist Alice Dearing to give you inspiration with our first Fuel My Friday of 2020.

Having competed her third consecutive world championships last year, Alice Dearing's attentions now turn to qualifying for her maiden Olympic Games,  with fuelling for training and racing essential as she builds towards a crucial qualifier later in the year.

Currently preparing for her first meet of the season at the FINA/CNSG Marathon Swim World Series 2020 in Doha, the former World Junior Open Water champion took a quick break to share with us the blueprint to her spin on salt and pepper chicken!

Over to you Alice...

A Chinese takeaway is a guilty pleasure of mine so I found this recipe which is a healthy take on salt and pepper chicken with a sweet chilli marinade. It's a dish I've cooked so often I make it up a little as I go, so adapt the below to your own taste or even put your own spin on it by choosing a different mix of vegetables to stir fry.

Ingredients:

  • 2 slices of thick bread
  • Salt and pepper seasoning
  • Chilli powder
  • 1 egg
  • 400g chicken (diced)
  • 1 pepper
  • 1 red onion
  • Small tin of sweetcorn (drained)
  • 1/2 cup of frozen peas
  • 1 cup of rice
  • 4 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • Honey
  • Paprika
  • Garlic granules

Method:

  1. Start off by blending the bread to make breadcrumbs, then add salt and pepper and some hot chilli powder to season the coating.
  2. Beat the egg and mix through the diced chicken before adding to the breadcrumb mixture, turning it over to get a good coverage.
  3. To make the marinade pour sweet chilli sauce into a bowl along with a squirt of honey, splash of soy sauce (a tablespoon max) and a add a little chilli powder, garlic granules and paprika to taste. Mix all together and leave ready for later on.
  4. Chop the onion, pepper and any addition veg you've chosen, meanwhile boil your rice and set aside once cooked.
  5. Returning to the chicken, cook in a hot in a pan with a small amount of oil, adding in the marinade once sealed. Make sure the chicken is fully cooked before removing from the heat.
  6. Stir fry the vegetables (onion, pepper, peas and sweetcorn in our case!) to liking in a separate pan. Finally add and stir through the rice with a splash of soy sauce before removing from the heat to dish up.
  7. Serve up from each pan onto a warm plate and enjoy!