Salt & Pepper Chicken

I cannot stress enough how delicious this Chinese fake-away dish is and what's more, I've played around with the method and ingredients so it's only 1 syn on Slimming World too. Win, win. 

This packs a real punch, so if you're a spice-wimp, tone it down a little, if you love spice, you'll love this dish.

This serves two as a main dish. 

Salt & Pepper Chicken (1 Syn)

Here's how:
For the chicken & seasoning:

• x2 chicken breasts
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tbsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tsp Chinese Five Spice
• 1 tsp sweetener
• Fry Light

For the stir fry:

• 2 spring onions
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 red chillies
• 2 cm piece fresh ginger
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 1 carrot
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• Fry Light

Firstly place a wok on a medium heat, dry. Now add the 1 tbsp of sea salt to the wok and allow it to dry-fry until the salt has started to take on a browny colour. Once that begins, remove from the heat. 

For the rest of the spice mix, in a small bowl place the cornflour, black pepper, Chinese Five Spice and sweetener. Add the salt once it's toasted too and mix together. 

Return the wok to the hob and spray with a few sprays of Fry Light, I prefer the rapeseed oil version here as it's pretty flavourless. 

Cut the chicken into small, bite-sized pieces and toss into the spice mixture so each side is coated and when happy pop every piece of chicken into the now-hot wok, and fry for two minutes initially. Then use tongs to turn over each piece and fry for a further 2 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Give the wok a little shake every so often, and check each piece is getting cooked on both sides. Once cooked, remove the chicken and place onto a plate to rest. 

For the stir fried vegetables, finely slice the spring onions and chilli and add to the wok with a couple more sprays of Fry Light. Mince in the garlic and finely chop the ginger and add to the wok too. 

Slice the peppers and peel and cut the carrot into matchsticks and add to the wok too on a high heat. Add the soy sauce too. This will cook in under two minutes, moving around all of the time. 

Return the chicken to the wok to coat a little before serving. Enjoy!

Salt & Pepper Chicken (1 syn)

If you love a Chinese fake-away on the healthier side then I have included eight other Chinese-inspired recipes with the Slimming World syns per portion included. 

• Chilli Crab Noodles  (1.5 syns)
• Slow Cooker Chinese Pork with Noodles  (1/2 syn)
• Sticky Asian Salmon (2 syns)
• Chicken Satay Noodle Salad (6 syns)
• Vegetarian Peanut Noodles (7 syns)
• Asian Tuna Fishcakes (3.5 syns)
• Chinese Style Roast Chicken (5 syns)
• Fake Away Char Sui Pork (5 syns)

Slow Cooker Chinese Pork with Noodles

This is a really easy slow cooker dish which I did in my Crockpot last week and devised as a Slimming World friendly meal as we have recently joined in a bid to shed some weight. It works out at half a syn for the whole dish, so win, win.

I used pork loins but shoulder steaks or even pork cheeks would be great for this dish; you do need to cook the pork loins for longer as they are a tougher cut, and you ideally want the meat to fall apart at the slightest touch.

Slow Cooker Chinese Pork with Noodles

The below serves four.

Here's how:

• 400g pork loins (fat removed) or pork shoulder steaks
• 1 white onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3cm piece of ginger
• 1 red chilli
• 2 tsp Chinese Five Spice
• 1 tbsp sriracha
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 200ml chicken stock
• 1 tsp cornflour
• Vermicelli rice noodles
• Handful coriander leaves to serve

Firstly place the pork loins or shoulder steaks into the slow cooker. Pour over the soy sauce, sriracha, fish sauce and chicken stock and add the Chinese Five Spice.

Now peel and slice the onion and add to the slow cooker. Peel and mince or finely slice the garlic and add to the slow cooker. 

Peel and either grate or finely slice the ginger and add to the slow cooker. 

Now finely slice the red chilli and add to the slow cooker. Give the combination a gentle mix so the pork is all immersed and then pop the lid on and put on the medium temperature for at least 4 hours. 

You don't have to, but every hour or so, I like to carefully open the lid and give everything a stir. 

When you are close to being ready to dish up and the pork is tender and falling apart at the touch of a fork, cook the rice noodles separately. 

To thicken the sauce or gravy a little, take a small bowl and ladle some of the sauce from the pot into it. Add the cornflour and give a quick stir to combine, you'll get a milky or chalky looking consistency. Now add this back into the slow cooker and give a good mix. 

Once the noodles are cooked, add them to the slow cooker, and mix to combine and ensure every noodle is immersed in the delicious sauce. 

Dish them up into a serving plate or bowl or into individual bowls and scatter over a few coriander leaves. I served with some quick stir-fried vegetables in oyster sauce. Enjoy!

If you like Chinese-style dishes you may love some of these:

• Honey Chilli and Coconut Prawns with Ho Fun
• Chinese Style Roast Chicken
• Slimming Friendly Char Sui Pork
• Vegetarian Peanut Noodles
• Chicken Satay Noodle Salad
• Pork Potsticker Dumplings

Chinese Style Roast Chicken

If you have a hankering for some Chinese food without heading to the local takeaway, this Chinese Style Roast Chicken is an all-round winner and makes a great change to a Sunday roast dinner.

You can serve with noodles, rice or some stir fried or steamed vegetables but I implore you to drizzle over the 'gravy' or chicken cooking juices left in the pan as they are simply packed full of flavour and utterly delicious.

Like most marinades, the flavour will intensify if you leave for a few hours, or overnight - however this works well too, if you impulsively decide to make the chicken and just throw it all together and on the bird before throwing into the oven; great for spur of the moment cooks like me.

The below is enough for a family of four for dinner and a couple of packed lunches the next day.

Chinese Style Roast Chicken

Here’s how:

• 1 large chicken
• Juice and zest of 2 limes
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 4cm piece of ginger
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Chinese Five Spice
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

Firstly turn the oven on to 200 degrees.

To prepare the marinade, peel and mince the garlic and add to a small bowl. Now peel the ginger, and either grate into the bowl or very finely slice and dice into tiny shards and add to the bowl.

Zest the limes into the bowl, then half them and squeeze in the juice, keeping the halved limes to one side.

Add the honey, soy sauce, shaoxing wine, sesame oil and Chinese five spice and give the marinade a stir.

Now take the chicken and using a sharp knife remove the legs and the wings and place ninto a roasting tin with the entire breast or crown of the chicken.

Pour the marinade over the whole chicken ensuring all of the skin gets a good coating. Now take the discarded lime halves and push them inside the chicken breast cavity.

Place the entire tin into the oven and roast at 200 degrees for 20 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and continue to roast for a further 40 minutes.

Every 10-15 minutes, remove the dish from the pan, and carefull baste with the juices in the pan. I use an oven glove to carefully tilt the dish and use a serving spoon to lift out the tin juices and pour over. This will help to keep the chicken moist and juicy.

After 60 minutes in the oven, remove and place on the hob and check to see if the chicken is cooked through. Use a fork or a skewer to pierce the chicken in both the thickest part of the breast and the thickest part of the leg; and as long as the juices run clear this is cooked.

The important thing now is to baste one last time with the juices in the pan, then carefully take out the chicken and place onto a plate and allow to rest for at least 20 minutes.

Also do not waste the chicken juices left at the bottom of the pan - whatever you are serving alongside the chicken, should be drizzled in this as it is packed full of flavour.

The gravy that must be used from Chinese Style Roast Chicken

Once fully rested, take each piece of chicken onto a board with a fork and a carving knife, carve into small slithers of delicious, juicy chicken. Try to ensure that each piece has a little of the skin for extra flavour. Once you have carved all you can, now grab another fork and use the two to pull off any remaining bits of chicken from the breast or leg bones and gently shred.

Serve with your choice of rice, noodles or vegetables. Enjoy!