The Startup Cook – Easy Saucy Chicken

The year is almost coming to an end and as a result it is customary for everyone to be swamped with work. Hours and hours are dedicated to meet budgets and deadlines… WHO HAS THE TIME TO COOK? No one really and while that is completely understandable, let me introduce you to this extremely easy and delicious chicken dish.

Inspired by a recipe on http://www.allrecipes.com, this particular saucy number deserves an award! It requires ingredients found conveniently in your kitchen, takes about half an hour to prepare and tastes amazing! It is the perfect food on a crazy busy day. Therefore serve this with some crusty bread or on a plate of rice or with some boiled pasta and have the most scrumptious quick-dinners you will ever have.

Ingredients

250g of chicken (breast) portion
5 spring onions
2 cloves of garlic
¼ cup + 3 tbs of ketchup
5 tbs of soy sauce
1 tsp of olive oil
1 lime
Pepper
Salt
Paprika
Basil

Directions

Wash the chicken well, clean it and cut it in to bite size cubes.

Cut the lime in to half and juice it over the cut chicken, add two teaspoons of paprika, a teaspoon of pepper, a dash of salt and basil and leave it to marinade.

Mince the garlic and spring onions. Cut separately the zesty leaves of the spring onions and set it aside.

Pour the ketchup in to a bowl, add the soy sauce to it and stir.

Add a teaspoon of pepper & paprika to the sauce, juice the remaining piece of lime over it and combine well.

Place a saucepan on a low flame and add the olive oil in to it.

Add the diced onions, garlic and sauté until the onions become translucent.

Then add the marinated chicken cubes and cook until the chicken starts to brown.

Next, pour the sauce all over the chicken, reduce the heat, cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for about 15 minutes.

Once the chicken has cooked, add the chopped spring onion leaves to it, stir and let it simmer.

Disasters, Warnings and Tips

Have this with some warm Basmati rice or some crusty bread. Delish!

Ensure the chicken portion is boneless.

For thick sauce like mine, let the chicken boil for an extra 5-10 minutes.

This particular recipe will serve one hungry person or two semi hungry people - double up to make more.

December is coming soon - which means Christmas is! YAAAAAY!

If you like a lot of sauce, double up on the amounts.

A good marinade is crucial for this recipe.

My father said “I have to give the thallu-start for the Startup Cook!” which means the ingredients for this recipe was purchased by him.

Do taste the sauce before using it to cook the chicken.

By Shazzana Hamid