Cook in Boots

The other night I prepared a meal from one of my favorite cook books – Cook in Boots by Ravinder Bhogal. I am obsessed with this book because it combines two of my favorite things - fashion and food. Not only are all the recipes tasty and easy but the author also successfully integrates her obsession with shoes into images throughout the book.

She divides the book up into multiple sections with cheeky titles like “Bread, Pasta, Potatoes: Fall off the carb wagon,” “Hangover Food: For the morning after the night before,” and “Fork me spoon me: The food of love and rude food.” I know - Genius! I wish I came up with it!
I am constantly trying to find delicious and healthy recipes, so I made her Hanoi poached chicken with rice and chili sauce, from her cleverly titled section – “Skinny Food: For when you feel the pinch of your Chloe jeans.” The meal was a major success and tasted more indulgent than “diet food.” Here is the recipe – Enjoy!

Hanoi poached chicken with rice & chili sauce

For the chicken and rice:
1 litre/ 1 ¼ pints chicken stock
1 fat 7.5cm/3in knob of unpeeled fresh root ginger, cut into thick slices
6 spring onions, thickly chopped including the dark green parts
Sea salt
6 chicken breasts, skinned and boned
1 tbsp sesame oil
8 fat garlic cloves, chopped
250g/9oz long-grain rice
Fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves to garnish

For the chili sauce:
2 red chilies (deseeded if you don’t want it too spicy)
5 garlic cloves
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp caster sugar (this means regular white sugar)
Juice of 1 lime

Start off by making the chili sauce. Put the chilies and garlic into a food processor and whiz until they are finely chopped, then mix the remaining chili-sauce ingredients.
To poach the chicken, bring the chicken stock to a boil and throw in the ginger and onions. Season with salt if necessary. Now lower the heat until you have a gentle simmer and add the chicken breasts. Cover the pan and cook for around 20-25 minutes, until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
Once the chicken is cooked you can get on with making the rice. Remove the chicken from the stock and cover it with kitchen foil to keep it warm. Strain the stock and keep it hot. In a wok, heat the sesame oil and fry the garlic until fragrant. Now add the rice and stir-fry for about 3 minutes until it’s coated with the oil. Add 600ml/1 pint of the stock to the rice and cook, covered, on a low heat for about 15 minutes, until the liquid has been completely absorbed and the rice is perfectly cooked.
Whisk 200ml/7fl oz of the remaining stock into the chili sauce.
To serve, arrange the rice and chicken on a platter and the sauce in individual dipping bowls. Scatter the rice and chicken with fresh coriander leaves.