CHINESE VEGGIE SLOW COOKED "YEAR OF THE" ROOSTER

Saturday 28th January 2017 was the start of the Chinese Year of the Rooster and so to celebrate I decided to rustle up an Asian inspired dish but as it was a Saturday, I wanted to make something that would require a minimal amount of effort (well the weekend is a time for chilling isn't it?). This dish of five spice Quorn chicken slow cooked in a soy, ginger, garlic and chili broth was the answer to my prayers. All you need to do is add the ingredients into your slower cooker in stages and you'll build up a dinner that is defiantly going to get you in the mood for a party.

Of course if you are not vegetarian you can use chunks of actual chicken if you wish. Just replace the Quorn in the recipe with the chicken and slow cook for the same amount of time. By slow cooking in the broth, the chicken remains moist. Once you have got the chicken and broth on the go you you can essentially add in whatever veg you like to pad out the dish. The vegetables I've used below is my selection but feel free to mix it up with a different variety if you wish. My quantities below will make a meal for 4 when served alongside a portion of rice or noodles.

Veggie Slow Cooked Asian Chicken

6 Quorn Chicken Fillets

1 Tsp Five Spice

400ml Vegetable Stock

125ml Light Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp Grated Ginger 

4 Grated Garlic Cloves

1 Finely Chopped Red Chili

2 Tsp Cornflour 

1 Tsp Sesame Oil

1 Large Broccoli

1 Chopped Red Pepper

1 Chopped Green Pepper

150g Chopped Mushrooms

Handfull Frozen Sweetcorn

Handfull Frozen Peas

4 Sliced Spring Onions

2 Tbsp Sesame Seeds

1. Add the Quorn fillets, five spice, vegetable stock, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and chili into your slow cooker and turn onto high. Stir everything together and leave for three hours.
2. After three hours, add in the cornflour and sesame oil and stir until the flour has dissolved. 
3. Add in the broccoli, red and green pepper, mushrooms, sweetcorn and peas and give everything a good stir so it's coated in the broth, breaking up the Quorn fillets into smaller chunks as you go. Reduce the heat to medium and cover and leave for 2 hours until the broth has thickened and the broccoli is tender.
4. Serve with rice or noodles and garnish the plates with the spring onions and sesame seeds to finish.

By allowing the broth to slow cook for over 5 hours you really do end up with really intense Asian flavors. The combination of the soy, ginger, garlic and chili is classic whilst the addition of the five spice just gives the broth that little edge. The Quorn should also of sucked up all those flavors making the "meat" plump and moist whilst the vegetables (especially the broccoli) should have a little bit of bite too them. Rounding everything off with a fresh hit of spring onion and a bit of crunch from the sesame seeds and you have the perfect dish to kick start the Chinese New Year with! Kunghei Fatchoy!