Food in a flurry – James Martin’s Thai chicken & cashew stir-fry with charred limes is ready in no time
Stir-fries are one of the ultimate fast foods. The secret is not to add too much oil, and to use a neutral-flavoured one such as groundnut oil, as most of the others will burn at the very high cooking temperature.
Charring the limes is a great, speedy way to impart more flavour when you squeeze them over the finished dish.
Ingredients
• 300g white rice
• 5g sea salt
• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 onion
• 1 green pepper
• 100g cashew nuts
• 25ml vegetable oil
• 5g thai green curry paste
• 100g sugar snap peas
• 4 limes
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
Method
1 First, place the rice and salt in a pan with 500ml cold water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 12 minutes, until tender. Remove from the heat and keep warm.
2 While the rice is cooking, cut the chicken into strips and slice the onion and green pepper.
3 Toast the cashew nuts lightly in a dry frying pan until golden.
4 Heat the oil in a wok, season the chicken with salt and pepper, then stir-fry it for 3–4 minutes, until golden.
5 Add the curry paste and all the vegetables, then add 50ml water and cook for 2–3 minutes, stirring frequently.
6 Meanwhile, cut the limes in half and heat a griddle pan. Cook the limes, cut-side down, in the hot pan for 2–3 minutes, until charred.
7 Sprinkle the cashew nuts over the stir-fry, and serve with the charred limes and rice.
Recipe courtesy of James Martin, extracted from Fast Cooking. Photography by Tara Fisher © Quadrille Publishing.
