Salt & pepper chicken

• 300gBasmati rice
• 1Brown onion
• 2Peppers
• 1Red chilli
• 3 clovesGarlic
• 4Spring onions
• 1 tspSugar
• ½ tspChilli flakes
• 600gChicken breast fillets
• 1 tbspSoy sauce
• 5 tbspCornflour
• 100mlVegetable oil, for shallow frying

Plus salt, pepper and water.

Method

1. 1

   Rinse the rice and boil it in plenty of salted water for 12 minutes. Drain and cover with the lid.

   15 min, mostly hands-off

2. 2

   Meanwhile, cut the onion and peppers into chunky strips, and slice the chilli, garlic and spring onions. Mix 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper, the sugar and the chilli flakes in a small bowl.

3. 3

   Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and toss with the soy sauce, then with the cornflour until every piece is coated.

4. 4

   Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan over a high heat. Fry the chicken in two batches for 5 to 6 minutes each, until golden, crisp and cooked through with no pink in the middle. Lift onto kitchen paper.

5. 5

   Carefully pour off all but 1 tbsp of the oil. Stir-fry the onion and peppers over a high heat for 3 minutes, until charred at the edges, then add the garlic, chilli and spring onions for a minute.

6. 6

   Tip the chicken back in, sprinkle over the salt and pepper mix and toss well for a minute. Serve with the rice.