Asian Lemon Chicken

Here is an easy and fairly quick recipe for lemon chicken — the addition of soya sauce, toasted sesame oil and ground coriander give it some Asian flair. Follow the steps and you will have a decent meal on the table in about 40 minutes. We enjoyed this with some basmati rice and a green salad. Stir fried veggies would be perfect alongside instead of salad.

A critical step is in the preparation of the chicken. Preparing it “cutlet” style (as described below) makes all the difference. Your surface area is doubled, meaning that you’ve got that much more area for flavour in every bite. So try to master that technique – it works well with chicken parmesan and my other lemon chicken recipe – Chicken Piccata.

Asian Lemon Chicken

adapted from Chatelaine magazine

serves 4

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

mixture #1

zest of one lemon

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp chili flakes (optional)

1 tsp salt

mixture #2

3/4 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup white wine

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

mixture #3

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp water

2 tsp soya sauce

Directions

Mix together each ‘mixture’ as outlined above.

Prepare Chicken Breasts:

Place one chicken breast on cutting board. Using a sharp knife (a fileting knife is ideal) and pressing your hand on top of breast to keep it in place, slice chicken breast in half horizontally, being careful to ensure you don’t cut your hand. Continue with remaining chicken breasts until all are sliced.

Place 2 pieces of chicken on cutting board; cover with plastic wrap and pound gently until evenly flattened. Continue until all pieces are flattened then place them in a medium sized bowl and coat with spice mixture #1. Your flattened chicken pieces can now be referred to as “cutlets”.

Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with about 2 tsp of vegetable oil. When pan is hot, place 4 of the chicken cutlets in pan and cook until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes. Remove from pan and place in a bowl while you cook the remaining 4 pieces. Add browned chicken and any accumulated juices back into the pan and pour in mixture #2. Turn heat to medium and let chicken simmer for 10 minutes.

Move chicken to the sides of the pan, making an opening in the center of the pan juices and pour in mixture #3. Stir until thickened, lowering heat if necessary and sauce is evenly mixed. Serve and enjoy.