Hi All,

I don’t mind a bit of cooking. Don’t get me wrong I’m not even close to a candidate for Masterchef. I just enjoy being creative and spending some quiet time in the kitchen. I love stir fry’s and so asian foods are a real favourite. The blends of wonderful flavours and fresh ingredients grab me every time.

So if you also enjoy a relatively easy challenge in the kitchen resulting in a great meal that will have your taste buds rocking their socks – Wow, that’s a big rap! I would love to share my recipe that’s a little more than the standard Chinese chicken dish.

I hope the recipe is easy to follow and you have a heap of creative fun and enjoy the dish just as much as I do – Here goes.

Reece’s Asian Apricot Chicken.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
3/4 cup apricot juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Salt & Pepper
Olive oil
2 eggs- lightly beaten
1-2cups of flour for coating the chicken
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (optional)
1 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes – subject to your liking. 2 chopped shallots (optional)

First part gets a bit messy and you will probably have to wash your hands a couple of times to remove the egg and flour that will build up on your fingers.

1. Place the lightly beaten eggs in a bowl with a dash of the oil – mix through.
2. Place the flour, pepper & salt in another bowl – mix through
3. Place an amount of the chicken pieces in the egg mixture
4. Take a piece of chicken from the egg mixture and dust in the flour – shake off any excess
5. Continue to do all chicken pieces.
6. Put a couple of teaspoons of oil in the Wok, covering the base. Heat the Wok.
7. Place the dusted chicken pieces in batches into the hot wok, cook till nicely browned (don’tover cook the chicken as it will be going back into the Wok later) remove chicken from Wok and set aside.

This is a good time to have a clean up of the bowls and utensils before moving on.

The Sauce:

1. Pour most of the apricot juice into a small bowl – save a couple of thimbles. (This will allow you to add a little more if the sauce becomes to thick as you cook)
2. Add the soy sauce, ginger, garlic, chilli flakes, dash of salt & pepper, vinegar and chopped shallots.
3. Give it a good stir.

Now to finish

1. Reheat the Wok with a little more oil evenly across the base. 2. Pour the apricot mixture into the wok.
3. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring continuously.
4. Add the cooked chicken to the wok.

5. Keep turning/ stirring the chicken & sauce – this is important!
5. The sauce will start to reduce and thicken. We’re looking to have a generous coating of thickened sauce over the chicken pieces with a little extra sauce still available.
( Don’t panic but If you feel the sauce is to thick add a little of the saved apricot juice)
6. That’s it done.

If you want to eat with rice have the rice ready to go in line with the thickening of the sauce. Place the coated chicken on the bed of rice and pour any additional sauce over the top. Enjoy!

Oh by the way – you should be able to feed 2-4 people subject to how hungry you are.

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