A tasty chicken thing by me (aged 41 and a bit) (Poultry)

Member Name: The Operator

Product:	Poultry
Date:	26/02/02 (114 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quick!

Disadvantages: No company.

In a somewhat radical departure from normal operations, I've decided to inflict something about food on you. Not you understand from any skill based value set, just that I cooked something yesterday and it turned out rather nice and, being a caring, sharing type of geezer I thought I'd tell you how I did it.

In fact it was by way of celebration. The first proper meal cooked in the hovel in which I now reside in my new-found kinda singleton status (I don't count the burgers I dished up for myself last week, they were ready made). No, this was excessively bloke on his own experimental type winging it with the 'phone going all the time cooking and it only took 30 mins start to finish although two and a quarter hours if you include all the interruptions. Still, I had fun.

I haven't got a name for it either so you'll have to deal with the embarrassing concoction I haven't quite come to terms with that's in the title.

You will need:
3 chicken thighs.
One lime
One red onion
Olive oil
Root ginger
Rice
Salt and black pepper

It's very simple you know. I was tempted to go to town on the spicey stuff, I love hot things and will usually chuck loads of chilli sauce and hot peppers in things but this time I thought I'd keep it basic. A simple trinity of tastes as any decent cook will tell you, is all you need so that's why there's no peppers or chillis. Just the Lime, ginger and onions. Simple - no flounce or pretence, it's how I like all things in life.

Because I'm a bit tight fisted and money's one of the foremost of my worries at the mo, I've substituted chicken thighs (on the bone) for breast. Now, I like breast, but cheap it isn't and I've usually found that thighs, while not quite as succulent as the former are considerably cheaper and usually just as good and if you're lucky you'll end up with a b.o.g.o.f. bargain like I d
id. So everyone who comes round in the next month is going to get this meal whether they like it or not. 5 minutes spent trimming the meat off the bone into stir-fry sized parings and no-one'll know the difference. Honest.

OK, you've got a pile of meat with little bits of fat attached to it because you were a bit circumspect with that sharp knife near your fingers, weren't you. No worries - a little bit of fat never hurt anyone. Get a bit of root ginger, about well, I don't know, as big as a garlic clove I s'pose (eh? you may have noticed, I'm not one for worrying too much about weights and measures - it's all a matter of taste anyway) and grate it using the smallest holes on the grater - the ones which are most difficult to clean. Chuck that in with the chicken which I hope you've put in a bowl and not just left lying around on the worktop for the cat to eat.

Get the lime (if you really must have lemon it will do at a push but this is a lime thing really), cut it in two and squeeze the juice onto the chicken and ginger and mix it all up with a bit of salt and black pepper and let it seep for a bit. That's it, put it right at the back of the worktop and forget it. Keep a bit of the lime zest back if you want and cut little bits off it to make a fancy garnish to impress your friends or if you're on your own, kid yourself that everyone does it.

Put your rice on. I used American long grain because I went to Sainsbury's and they are prohibitively expensive if you want to buy anything posey like fragranced Thai basmati . It's within walking distance but I'd prefer Morrisons but now I have to drive there. Weep. And they have a much better off-licence in Morrisons. Not to worry. There are other branches of Morrisons which I know of so I'll stock up there. Digressing, back to the plot.

Onion time! One red onion about the size of a snooker ball is plenty. Red onion because they'r
e a bit sweeter and I prefer them. If you want your meal to taste like a Westlers hot dog (those horrible things which I swear are a combination of Canada goose droppings and any passing small live animal put to the sword and sold by the refugee mafia in the Royal Parks), use white ones. Slice it up and throw it in the now hot frying pan which you put on the range a minute or so ago with a dash of olive oil in. Let them sweat for a couple of minutes before adding the chicken mixture, if you can find it (you put it at the back of the worktop, remember?), and stir it up for about 8-10 minutes depending on the heat of your pan. It should sizzle. It's no good cold or heating the pan up with the meat in, it has to be hot so the inside of the meat stays nice and succulent. Sorry veggies.

If you've been really lucky everything will be finished all at the same time! Even the onions will still be nice and firm rather than the slippery dead elver-like offerings some people like to serve up.
Drain off your rice, tip the chicken over it - there won't be much juice for those that can't stand sauces. Add your garnish if you want or if you care and then take a photo of it to email to your bestest friend in the whole world to prove you can really do this!

Put a nice record on like something by Neil Finn and relax. I haven't got a telly anymore - marvellous!

Oh and cheapskates? About £1 the lot. Probably even less if you got the bargain chicken.

Well, I liked it even it it doesn't impress any of you lot !

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