Wagamama Inspired Homemade Firecracker Chicken

Hi guys and welcome to my first ever blog post on Chrissy's Cooking Chronicles! After visiting Wagamama for the first time last month, I decided to recreate one of their popular dishes; the Firecracker Chicken. If you love food which is sweet yet spicy with Asian influences, this is the perfect dish for you! Without further ado, the recipe is as follows.

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

• 2 Chicken Breasts

• 2 Onions

• 2 Peppers (Green and Red)

• Spring Onions

• Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce

• 2/3 Tablespoons of Oil

• 1 Lime

• Mixed Chillies

• Mangetout

• Black Sesame Seeds

• 500g of Basmati Rice

• Crushed Chillies

• Garlic (Powder or Fresh)

• Salt & Pepper to taste

• Chilli Powder (Optional)

Method:

1. Rinse and parboil rice on a medium heat for 10mins. (To parboil is to partly cook the rice until slightly soft)

2. Whilst the rice is parboiling, dice the onions, peppers and chicken into cubes, seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper to taste. In addition, finely chop the green onions and chillies and place all  ingredients in bowls.

3. Place the olive oil/ vegetable oil into your wok, heat and add the chicken, garlic granules (alternatively one and a half minced cloves of garlic), and crushed chillies (or less depending on spice tolerance). Cook the chicken through on low/ medium heat.

4. Whilst the chicken is cooking, wash the rice to rid it of any excess starch, add one and a half cups of water (enough so that it covers about 1cm above the rice), salt to taste and cover, allowing to cook fully on a medium/high heat.

5. Once the chicken is cooked through, add your chopped onions and bell pepper and allow this to cook on a medium/ high heat for about 3 mins, stirring occasionally.

6. Add 3/4 of the mangetout and all the chopped chillies to the wok, and let it all cook for about 2-3 mins. If you prefer your vegetables less crunchy, cook for longer allowing all the vegetables to soften further. In addition, if you prefer this dish less spicy, add less chillies or none at all in accordance to your preference!

7. At this point, add the sweet chilli sauce to the wok. If you prefer a lot of sauce with your rice, add more sweet chilli sauce and alternatively if you like it more to the specificity of Wagamama's, add less sweet chilli sauce.

8. Cover and let the sauce simmer for 5mins on a low heat, cooking it through.

9. Add the green onions and stir through the dish. Do not let them cook for too long as the green onions will wilt quickly.

10. Add the remaining quarter of the mangetout, for a crunchier element to this dish.

                                                   

11. Bon Appetit! To serve just like at Wagamama's, use a round bowl and fill it with the cooked rice. Place a dish on top of the bowl and flip it over placing the rice on the centre of the plate. Serve the firecracker chicken around the rice, garnishing the top with chilli powder, black sesame seeds and a wedge of lime.

If you loved this recipe and want to see more, please leave a comment below! I'd also love to see pictures of when you make it so feel free to tweet me your Firecracker Chicken with the hastag #CCC on twitter (@chrissola_) or snapchat (@chrissola). Thank you so much for visiting my blog and have a blessed day!