#shortcuteggsperts - Chicken & Egg Fried Rice

As part of the #shortcuteggsperts project with British Lion Eggs and Britmums,  myself and other #shortcuteggsperts will be coming up with a series of recipe using eggs.

For this month the topic is 'Mains', and the challenge is to come up with a main meal for the family in around 20 minutes. This is one of our favourite quick meals and I usually use leftover cooked roast chicken but this time I used chicken breasts that I had previously cooked in my sous vide thermo circulator, which produced extremely juicy chicken, making it perfect in this dish. It's best to use rice that is cooked and cooled, otherwise it can stick together and if you really want to simplify the dish then packets of pre-cooked microwave rice is ideal. I find that frozen cooked chicken breast strips work well too, just make sure that they are fully defrosted before adding to the pan.

Chicken & Egg Fried Rice - serves 4

 2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 garlic clove, crushed

1/2 tsp ginger paste

400g cooked chicken, cut into bite size pieces

1 tsp sesame oil

4 eggs, lightly beaten & seasoned with salt & pepper

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 onion, finely chopped

100g frozen peas

100g frozen or tinned sweetcorn

800g cooked & cooled basmati rice

2-4 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 spring onion, finely sliced

Mix the soy sauce, garlic & ginger paste together in a bowl
Add the chicken and mix until all the chicken has been coated
Heat 1 tsp of sesame oil in a large non stick frying pan or wok
Add the beaten eggs & cook through without stirring to end up with a thin omelette
Remove the omelette from the pan, roll up & keep warm
Heat 1 tbsp of sesame oil in the pan and fry the onion for approx 1 minute
Ad the peas and corn & fry for a minute or 2 to defrost
Add the rice, chicken and soy sauce (to taste) and heat through fully
Cut the rolled omelette up into thin slices and add to the pan before serving
Serve topped with spring onion

Home-made [cheats] Walnut Whips

When I saw the beautiful looking marshmallow that Jenny had made here, I told her that it looked like the kind of marshmallow filling you would find in a walnut whip, which got me thinking of walnut whips. I haven't had one for years, in fact I remember the last time I had one - in 2007 at a motorway service station on the way back from finding out I had suffered a miscarriage. The pack of 3 walnut whips didn't take away the pain, but they sure helped.

I decided at that moment that I wanted to make some walnut whips of my own and ordered a silicone dariole mould straight away. I'm a little impatient so as soon as the mould arrived I wanted to make them, but I don't have a particularly accurate thermometer, so I cheated and used a jar of Marshmallow Fluff. Next time I promise that I will make my own marshmallow as it's something that I've wanted to make for ages but never got around to. 

You wouldn't really be wanting to make these if you're a big walnut whip eater as they do take quite a while, but they are fun to make, kind of, albeit a bit messy. They took me the best part of Friday morning to make and when everyone came home from work/school they took the grand total of 5 seconds to disappear!

Walnut Whips - makes 6

approx 200g good quality milk or dark chocolate, melted

1/2 jar of Marshmallow Fluff

12 walnut halves

• Use enough melted chocolate to coat the insides of the dariole moulds and allow to set
• Add another coat of chocolate and allow to set again
• Once completely set, spoon the fluff into the cavities a little at a time
• Once full press a walnut half onto the top
• Use more melted chocolate to cover the fluff  and walnut
• Allow to set fully before turning out
• Use a little melted chocolate to attach another walnut half to the top of the walnut whip