I found a super simple two-step recipe online that only takes seven minutes to cook, but with a few substitutions and additions.
The original chicken casserole was a good combination of chicken, red pepper and mangetout – but some of these ingredients were not in my fridge.
Fortunately, even the creator of the recipe – Nick Nairn of BBC Good Food – said: “Feel free to modify the recipe.” And so I did.
I wasn’t going to make a trip to the local store, and I wasn’t going to jump in the car and go to the nearest big box store; no, I was going to use what I had at home.
This meant I replaced the mushrooms and broccoli with red pepper and mangetout and added spinach and spring onions.
Original chicken recipe
Ingredients
- One tablespoon of olive oil
- One clove of garlic, chopped
- Two chicken thighs, thinly sliced
- Half a red pepper, seeds removed, thinly sliced
- One tablespoon of soy sauce
- 30 g mangetout, green beans or sugar snap peas
- 100 ml of chicken broth
- One nest of egg noodles cooked according to package instructions
Method
Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok and fry the garlic and chicken until brown all over. Add the pepper to the pan and stir-fry for two to three minutes.
Mix in soy sauce, mangetout and chicken broth. Continue to stir-fry over medium-high heat for three to four minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Add the cooked noodles and mix until smooth.
My modified recipe
Ingredients
- One tablespoon of olive oil
- One clove of garlic, chopped
- Two chicken thighs, thinly sliced
- Half a broccoli
- One tablespoon of soy sauce
- A handful of spinach
- Mushrooms
- Red cabbage (optional)
- 100 ml of chicken broth
- One nest of egg noodles cooked according to package instructions
- Serve with spring onions
Method
Starting in the same way, in a wok heated with oil, I cooked the mushrooms first.
While the mushrooms were cooking, I boiled a pot and then poured boiling hot water through a colander over half a head of broccoli.
The rest of the boiled water is used to cook the egg noodles according to the instructions on the package.
Then I chopped the florets and put them in the wok with the mushrooms; after it is cooked i put this mixture in a bowl.
Now I added more oil to the wok to fry the seasoned chicken and garlic until cooked, then I added the mushrooms and broccoli back.
The next step was to mix in the soy sauce, spinach, red cabbage and chicken broth; I continued to fry on medium heat for four minutes. Then add the boiled eggs.
My recommendations for next time are to add ginger – because the classic combination of garlic, soy sauce and ginger is a winner – and remove the red cabbage.
Further improvements can be made if you want to share your top recommendations in the comments section.
