Sunday 21October - Hainanese Chicken

After the excesses of Saturday, something light and very low fat was required. I found this recipe in one of my diety books (Skinny Meals in Heels by Jennifer Joyce), and it looked just the thing.

Chicken poached very gently in plain water. Served with a dipping sauce of Ketjap Manis, mixed with ginger, chilli, garlic, sugar and rice wine vinegar.

 

We added garlic rice as per the suggestion in the book - cooking this in the poaching liquid from the chicken.

We did however mess about with the cucumber a bit, making my favourite Japanese style salad - marinating the slices in rice wine vinegar, sugar, salt and ginger, and dressing with chilli and a drop of sesame oil.

The chicken bones went back into the remaining poaching liquid along with an onion and some chopped carrot, and this is going to be the basis of a soup later in the week.

For desert and for snacks for the boys during the week, I made a plum and almond cake to use up the plums in the fruit bowl, and also a ginger cake as we had been talking about them earlier in the day, and I've never made one. The boys tried these with cream, and I had a tiny piece of each with some low fat custard.