Chicken, Broccoli & Mushroom Stir Fry

Tonight I cooked an inspired chicken, broccoli and mushroom stir fry. Turned out brilliant!

Here's how...

First, ready the sauce: Take 3 cups of chicken stock, 2-3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a teaspoon each of garlic and ginger paste, 2 heaped tablespoons of corn starch, a teaspoon of sugar, and half a teaspoon of crushed peppercorns. Whisk until everything is thoroughly mixed. Set aside for later.

Next, chop up 3 chicken breasts into bite sized cubes and season them with sea salt, pepper and 3 finely chopped cloves of garlic. Toss them around in a hot wok with a little bit of olive oil until they brown up a bit from all sides. Turn off the heat.

Slice a fairly large red onion into thin slivers; diagonally chop 2 spring onions; thickly slice 200g of large button mushrooms; and cut about 2 heads of broccoli into little florets. Take 2 or 3 green chillies with a single slit along the length of each one.

Turn the heat back on (medium), add another tablespoon of olive oil to the chicken and chuck in the onions, stir for a few minutes until the onions become a little translucent. Add everything else, stirring all the while. Do this for about 6-7 minutes.

Next, whisk the sauce some more and pour it into the wok. Keep stirring until the sauce begins to thicken.

Occasionally, poke at the broccoli with a fork to check if it is cooked through but still al dente. Keep stirring until ready.

Serve in a bowl, on its own or atop some plain, slightly buttered rice - I used Basmati.

Add salt, pepper, Tabasco, or squeeze in some lemon or lime to your liking.

The whole meal takes about 30 minutes from start to finish, serves 4 people and costs a mere £7.