CHINESE CHICKEN THIGHS, PICKLE SALAD and RICE

METHOD

For the chicken thighs

Preheat your oven to 200c. Remove your chicken thighs from the fridge and score across the top with a sharp knife. Place them into an oven tray and leave them out of the fridge for 20-30 minutes to allow them to come up to room temperature. Sprinkle the thighs with the sesame seeds and place them into the oven. Cook them for 35-40 minutes or until crispy on the outside and cooked through. Remove them from the oven and rest them for 10 minutes.

For the pickle salad

Remove the seeds from the cucumber and cut it into thin strips. Remove the greens from the spring onions and set them aside to chop up later. Cut the whites of the onions into thin strips and add them to a bowl with the cucumber. Add the soy, brown sugar and vinegar to the bowl, toss it all together and set it aside for 10 minutes to marinate and soften the vegetables.

To serve

Place small bowls of hot steamed rice onto large serving plates.
Top each mound of rice with some extra sesame seeds, a pinch of chilli
flakes and the chopped up greens of the spring onions. Place the chicken
thighs next to the rice and finish the plates with a pile of the pickled salad.
Fantastic served with some Stokes’ Hoisin sauce