Dukan Friendly Sweet & Sour Chicken

Having been on the Dukan diet plan for the best part 6 weeks, trying to continually find things that are satisfying to eat is a constant challenge.  There’s only so many ways you can cook oat bran! 🙂

This dinner came about from Mr.Misslady expressing a lusting for sweet and sour chicken “from the Chinese”;  That luminous red gloop with the ability to scald tongues like only molten lava can.  This is an adaptation of a couple of recipes that I found online.  The resulting dish provided that ‘hit’ of sticky sweet and sour.

For the Sweet & Sour Chicken:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into chunks, or chicken thighs
• 1 red pepper, de-seeded and cut into pieces
• 1 orange or green pepper, de-seeded and cut into pieces
• thumb-size piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 bunch spring onions, cut into pieces, other veg (mushrooms, water-chestnuts) if desired
• ground white pepper

For the sauce

• Approx 3 tbsp sweetener (or to taste)
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp rice wine or dry sherry
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 175 ml/6fl oz chicken stock
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 tbsp cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp water

Preparation method

1. Prepare the sauce by combining all the sauce ingredients in a jug or small bowl, adding sweetener to taste
2. Heat a wok or large frying pan with a small amount of oil in. Add the chicken, peppers, ginger and garlic. Fry for 2-3 minutes, then add the spring onions and fry for about 30 seconds
3. Add all the sauce mixture and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 6 minutes. Season with white pepper

For the Cucumber Salad:

• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 2 spring onions
• 1/2 red chilli, finely chopped (or to taste)
• 1 cucumber

For the dressing

• 3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil (not strictly Dukan but it’s a small amount and provides a lot of taste)
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sweetener (or to taste)
• Pinch of salt

Preparation method

1. Prepare the spring onions by peeling and cutting at an angle into pieces.
2. Prepare the cucumber by peeling, cutting in half along the length, scooping out the seeds and slicing into angled chunks about 0.5cm thick.  Put in a bowl.
3. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, adding salt and sweetener to taste
4. Toss the vegetables in the sauce, then leave to marinade for a few minutes