Ingredients
| 3 tangelos | |
| ½ -1 tablespoon Sichuan pepper, to taste | |
| ¼ cup chilli oil | |
| 2 cups cooked jasmine rice, cooled | |
| 1 tablespoon plain oil | |
| 4 tablespoons light or Japanese soy sauce | |
| 3 spring onions | |
| 4 thin slices fresh ginger, plus one teaspoon minced | |
| 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine | |
| 2 chicken breasts (about 500g), room temperature | |
| ½ teaspoon sugar | |
| 2 cloves garlic, minced | |
| 2 tablespoons black vinegar | |
| 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil | |
| ½ cucumber, sliced | |
| 100g snow pea shoots or similar | |
| 1 cup fragrant herbs such as coriander, Thai basil, mint, chives | |
| toasted sesame seeds |
Dried tangerine/mandarin peel is traditionally dehydrated in the sunshine, which is a great way to preserve the flavour to use throughout the year. You can dry in a dehydrator or oven until crisp and dry, then store in a jar. In this recipe it intensifies the flavour and adds a depth to the oil, but if time is short you could add a teaspoon of finely grated zest, to use fresh the same or next day.
If you peel the tangelos in advance, you can save the tangelo flesh in a plastic bag in the fridge for a couple of days. If you don’t like things too spicy, you can use half chilli oil and half plain oil in the tangelo-chilli oil.
View the recipe collection here
Instructions
| 1. | Heat the oven to 75℃. |
| 2. | Using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler, very carefully peel the skin from the tangelos making sure you do not pierce the flesh as you don’t want any juice to escape. Set the flesh aside. |
| 3. | Slice as much pith off the skin as you can and discard. |
| 4. | Place the peel on a baking tray and dry out in the oven for 1½-2½ hours (it will depend on your oven and the thickness of the peel). Store in an airtight container. |
| 5. | To make tangelo-chilli oil, heat a little frying pan over a medium heat and toast the Sichuan pepper for about 1 minute until aromatic. |
| 6. | Grind to a rough powder and then combine with the chilli oil in a small bowl. |
| 7. | Grind 2 tablespoons of dried peel to a rough powder and add to the oil. |
| 8. | Leave to infuse for at least an hour or store in the fridge. |
| 9. | Heat the oven to 200℃. |
| 10. | Mix the rice with the plain oil and 1 tablespoon soy sauce then spread out evenly on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. |
| 11. | Cook for 40 minutes, tossing halfway through. Set aside to cool. |
| 12. | Trim the ends off the spring onions, setting aside the main part for the salad and to garnish. |
| 13. | Roughly chop the trimmings and put these in a saucepan large enough to hold the chicken breasts in a single layer. |
| 14. | Add the sliced ginger and Shaoxing wine with 2 cups water and bring to the boil. |
| 15. | When boiling, add the chicken in a single layer (if it doesn’t cover the chicken add a little more boiling water to just cover) and bring back to bubbling. |
| 16. | Take off the heat, cover immediately and leave for 30 minutes, turning the chicken over halfway. |
| 17. | Remove the chicken and measure out 125ml of the broth and set aside (you can freeze the remaining broth for other uses). |
| 18. | In a large bowl, combine the remaining 3 tablespoons soy sauce with the sugar, minced ginger, garlic, black vinegar and sesame oil. |
| 19. | Add half of this to the chicken broth and set aside. |
| 20. | Add the cucumber, snow pea shoots and herbs to the remaining half of the dressing, but do not toss. |
| 21. | Finely slice the reserved spring onion and add three-quarters of it to the salad. |
| 22. | Cut any remaining pith off the peeled tangelos then cut in between the segments and add the segments to the salad. |
| 23. | To serve, slice each chicken breast and place into individual bowls or serve both in one large serving bowl. |
| 24. | Pour the chicken broth mixture over the chicken. |
| 25. | Spoon some of the tangelo-chilli oil over the chicken to taste |
| 26. | Garnish with the remaining spring onion and toasted sesame seeds. |
| 27. | Add the crispy rice to the salad and toss well. Serve immediately. |
Recipes & food styling Fiona Smith / Photography Aaron McLean / Styling Fiona Smith & Aaron McLean