Chicken bites with creamy herb sauce

Most of us don’t have the luxury of time to devote hours preparing, assembling and cooking long and complicated recipes.

While we love good food we don’t want to grow old cooking it. This is one of the easiest dishes to make and I am always amazed at just how good it tastes. All I have done is a little chopping, a little mixing and then a quick stir-fry over a high heat to produce these fresh-tasting, zesty and utterly delicious chicken bites. I like to serve these with a salad — but lightly steamed seasoned vegetables would be good too.

Sometimes I tuck chicken bites along with other tantalising goodies into a wrap — simply assemble, roll and cut.

The bites can also be served as nibbles with pre-dinner drinks. The creamy herb sauce is perfect as a dipping sauce — just remember to supply toothpicks!

Serves 4 as a main

Chicken bites

700g boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp paprika

½ tsp garlic salt

¼ — ½ tsp chilli powder

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Creamy herb sauce

½ cup quality mayonnaise

½ cup sour cream

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 ½ Tbsp finely snipped chives or spring onions

2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves

fresh herbs to garnish

Method

Remove any fat from the chicken and cut into 2cm-3cm chunks. Pat dry with paper towels. Set aside.

In a medium-size bowl combine the sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, ground cumin, paprika, garlic salt, chilli powder, olive oil and lemon juice, mix well until smooth. Add the chicken and stir well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or up to 24 hrs if convenient, stirring occasionally. About 30 minutes before cooking take the chicken from the fridge .

While the chicken is marinating, make the herb sauce. Combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, chives or spring onions and mint and mix well.

Spoon into a serving dish, cover and refrigerate until serving. Garnish with a sprig or two of fresh herbs.

Heat a frypan to high heat. Very lightly oil the base of the pan and add the chicken and the marinade.

Keeping the heat high stir fry for 4-5 minutes until the chicken is golden and crispy at the edges.

Serve with the creamy herb sauce.

 

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