Teriyaki chicken legs and vegetable stir fry

What to eat? What to eat?
When Summer comes and temperatures rise to nearly 30°C, the great hunger people have during the cold Winter times seems to disappear. A great no go for the hearty Belgian dishes with lots of pork, beef and potatoes floating in heavy sauces.

For me Summer means you have to look at more exotic kitchens to get your inspiration. People there always have these kind of temperatures, so their food fits the season, I recon.

As I still had an unopened bottle of teriyaki sauce and chicken legs, the choice was evident: teriyaki chicken. To be served with lots of fresh vegetables and ...

Something new for me: rice noodles (mihoen). I saw it in the supermarket, on my search for a side dish to my teriyaki chicken legs and stir fry vegetables. 

Ingredients for 4:
- 4 large chicken legs
- teriyaki sauce

- neutral oil 

- ground ginger

- pepper/chilli

- 400 grams mixed vegetables like carrots,  leeks, soy sprouts, ...

- 250 grams rice noodles

- soy sauce

- chicken stock 

How to:

Rub the chicken legs with the teriyaki sauce, some ground ginger and some oil. Put them on an oven tray and let them stand for about 3 hours in a 150°C oven. They will brown evenly if you turn them around 3-4 times during cooking. If they're becoming too dry, rub them in with the juices in the tray or with a little extra oil.

Put some oil in a frying pan and fry the vegetables you have cut in matchstick-size pieces shortly. Add some soy sauce and ginger to taste. Be careful with soy sauce as it may be too salty in the end (I used reduced salt soy sauce).
Prepare the noodles as mentioned on the package. Use the chicken stock for extra taste.

Drain the noodles and add them to the vegetables. Stir quickly so that the tastes combine (I didn't do that - forgot! - and the noodles were kind of bland. But if you forget too, just turn all things round on your own plate: more messy but alike). 

Chicken stir fry (or was it quorn stir fry?)

After a very busy week during which we had to go dine out - no complaints at all about that part! :p - we finally have a home cooked meal again.

Today we have our weekly veggie day, a tricky one this time because I mean to trick my dad by telling him it's chicken stir fry instead of quorn stir fry.
He dislikes the meat replacements like quorn and tofu. He rather eats eggs if he really has to have something vegetarian. To avoid nasty glances, I hope he'll believe me. Upside is that chicken is not very distinct in taste, and the oyster sauce tends to be the dominant taste. We'll see ...


This recipe was originally with scampi and rice, but this is my variation.


Ingredients for 4:
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 350 grams quorn cubes (mine were specially for stir frying, but others would be fine as well)
- 500 grams of vegetables such as sugar snaps, broccoli, carrots, ... (or a mixture of them)
- 300 grams egg noodles
- 75 ml oyster sauce 
- oil for frying 
- pepper and salt to taste
- chilli flakes if you like more spice
- fresh chive for serving


How to:
Clean the vegetables and cut them in bite-size pieces. Blanch them in boiling water for a few minutes or until they are done but still crisp.
Prepare the noodles as mentioned on the package. You will usually have to soak them in a hot liquid like water or stock for a while.
Heat a skillet on high heat. Pour some oil in for frying.
Add the garlic, which you've cut in very small pieces, to the hot skillet. Add the quorn cubes as well. Let them brown for a bit. 
Throw the vegetables in and stir the ingredients around quickly. Pour the oyster sauce onto them and stir again. 
The noodles can be added now. They cannot be stirred for long as they will get too soft when heated too long.


Have a nice meal!


P.S.: my dad wasn't fooled. We kept on insisting it was chicken, but he merely said 'very strange chicken, this is!' Haha. Anyway, he kind of liked it.