Sesame Chicken with Flaming Red Sauce, Pumpkin & Bok Choy

Episode 44 - Sesame Chicken with Flaming Red Sauce, Pumpkin & Bok Choy

Ingredients:

  • Pumpkin
  • 1kg Japanese pumpkin (850g “clean” – skin and seeds removed), cut into 1cm cubes
  • Splash of Olive Oil
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme or 5 – 6 sprigs of fresh thyme
  • 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

    Chicken

  • 500g Chicken Breast, sliced thinly into chicken strips
  • 1/3 cup sesame seeds
  • 1 cup Vegetable Oil
  • 2 small red capsicums (200g), seeds removed and diced
  • 400g can tomatoes, diced
  • 2 cloves Garlic, crushed
  • 1 small Brown Onion (70g), finely diced
  • 1 tbsp Olive Oil
  • Dash dry white wine
  • ½ teaspoon Caster Sugar
  • Salt & cracked Black Pepper

    Bok Choy

  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh Italian flat leaf Parsley
  • 375g Bok Choy, washed, separated and steamed 3 minutes

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 230°C. Place the pumpkin, thyme and cracked pepper into a large roasting pan.
  2. Splash the olive oil over pumpkin mix and toss pumpkin through the olive oil to coat.
  3. Cook in a hot over for 20 minutes (gently tossing after the first 10 minutes.).
  4. Turn oven off and leave pumpkin in oven whilst chicken and sauce is still cooking. Place the chicken strips between two layers of cling wrap and lightly tenderise with a mallet.
  5. Remove from plastic and coat with sesame seeds. (To do this, place the sesame seeds on a plate and roll chicken through). Set aside.
  6. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a medium saucepan and cook onion and garlic for 1 minute or until onion is soft.
  7. Add capsicum and tomatoes, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
  8. Add wine and sugar and stir through.
  9. Cover and simmer for another 5 minutes or until capsicum is soft.
  10. Season with salt and cracked black pepper. Turn off heat. Using a stab-mixer, blend the sauce until pureed.
  11. Cover and stand aside while chicken strips are cooking.
  12. Heat vegetable oil in a large fry pan until hot (make sure bottom of pan is well coated with oil; almost enough to deep fry).
  13. Cook the chicken strips in batches, browning each side (3 – 4 minutes). Lay paper towel on a plate and place chicken on this to absorb excess oil.
  14. Place bok choy in a 2 litre microwave-safe container, cover and cook on high for 3 minutes. Stand for 2 minutes.
  15. To serve, place a mound of pumpkin pieces in the centre of a dinner plate.
  16. Place chicken strips on top and ladle spoons of flaming red sauce on top of chicken.
  17. Lay bok choy pieces around the base of the pumpkin mound.
  18. Garnish with chopped parsley.