Lean chicken breast in a tasty Japanese sauce, flavoursome option for the usual “chicken and rice” every rugby playing teenager enjoys.

This dish is easy to prepare in advance and warm up later. I usually make it the night before while cooking the family meal, or during the day in between work meetings so that once my teenager returns from training late at night he just warms it up in the microwave for a tasty and nutritious calorie replacement and muscle rebuild when you have no time to cook from fresh (and let’s face it, the taxi driver is way too tired!)

Ingredients

• 4 teaspoons cornflour
• 100ml water
• 200ml soy sauce (dark ideally)
• 6 tablespoons honey
• 4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar (white wine vinegar is a good substitute)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons ginger puree
• 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
• 3 chicken breasts
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 teaspoon grated or minced fresh ginger
• 3/4 cup basmati rice (with 2 cardamom pods + whole 1 clove)

Method

Prepare your sauce first.

Mix the cornflour with water in your saucepan till dissolved. Add the Soy. Add honey, vinegar, garlic powder, ginger puree and chilli flakes. Mix well so everything is incorporated. Place the saucepan on the hob, and on a very low heat, simmer until thick. Keep stirring as it will stick, takes about 3 minutes. Once thick and glossy, switch off the heat and set aside.

Cook your rice.

For quantities, I use one cup of basmati rice and 2 cups of water. Add 2 cardamom pods, 1 clove and a little salt. Bring to the boil, and once boiling, mix and then turn the heat to very low and put the lid on. Leave to simmer for up to 8 min, stirring half way through. Switch off the heat, use a fork to loosen the grains, and leave to steam.

Cook your chicken.

Cut the chicken breasts into bite sized chunks.

Heat the sesame oil in a wok, and when hot, add the chicken. Stir fry the chicken until almost cooked. Add garlic cloves and ginger, and cook until done. Pour your Teriyaki sauce into the chicken pan, turn the heat down, and simmer on a very low heat for up to 5 min.

And it’s done! Add greens and enjoy.