Chinese Chicken Parcels Recipes

Steps:

• Remove and discard the core and outer leaves from the cabbage, undo the remaining cabbage leaves and place them in a pan of salted boiling water for 2 minutes to soften. Cool them in a bowl of cold water, drain and put to one side.
• In a food processor, whizz up your garlic, ginger, spring onions, coriander, chilli and fish sauce with a good pinch of salt. Then add the chicken, water chestnuts, lime zest and juice and sesame oil and pulse until you have a minced meat consistency.
• Place a heaped dessertspoonful of the flavoured mince on to one end of each cabbage leaf. Fold it up and tuck in the sides, then roll up. Rub a bamboo steamer, colander or normal steamer with a little olive oil and place in the cabbage parcels. They may try to unfold themselves, but once you start putting them next to each other they will hold in place. When they're all in, sit the steamer over a pan of boiling water, making sure the water doesn't touch the parcels and that it's just the steam that's cooking them. Put a lid on top and steam for about 6 minutes until cooked. If you're worried about the cooking time, take one of the parcels out and cut it in half to make sure that the heat has penetrated and that they're cooked.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 190°C.
• Mix together garlic, chopped sage, mustard, honey, lemon juice and soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Place each chicken breast on foil and drizzle with lemon mixture, top with a piece of sage, and piece of lemon.
• Fold foil to enclose chicken and make parcels.
• Place in a roasting pan and cook for 25 minutes or until cooked through.
• Open chicken parcels, remove sage and lemon and serve, drizzled with sauce.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 220C/200C Fan/gas 7. Cut a slit halfway in each chicken breast, then put each one between two pieces of baking parchment and bash with a rolling pin to flatten slightly.
• Cut your sheet of pastry in half widthways and put both halves on a baking tray. Sit a chicken breast on top of each half, then cram the cavities with the Boursin (don't worry if a bit of cheese oozes out). Season, scatter over the lemon zest then fold the edges of the pastry in to the centre and pinch shut. Flip each parcel over so the seal is on the bottom. Brush with a little oil, then bake for 30 mins until deep golden.
• About 10 mins before your parcels are ready, steam or boil the greens until tender. Toss in the oil and season. Serve alongside your chicken parcels with lemon wedges for squeezing over.

Steps:

• Soak the glass noodles in boiling water and leave for 5 mins, then drain and run under cold water. Using scissors, cut into little pieces. Heat the oil in a wok, add the garlic, chilli and lemongrass and fry until fragrant. Add the green beans and carrot, and stir-fry for 2 mins until the vegetables lose their rawness but maintain their crunch.
• Add the chicken mince and break into small pieces with a wooden spoon while mixing with the vegetables. Once the chicken turns opaque and starts to cook through, add the prawns. Season with oyster and fish sauce, and pepper, and cook for 1-2 mins.
• Add the noodles, mix well, cook for 1 min more making sure that the chicken and prawns are cooked. Add the rice wine vinegar, mix well and turn off the heat. Set aside and cool for 10 mins.
• Peel the leaves off the lettuce carefully. If using iceberg lettuce, use scissors and, following the curve of the leaf, cut away the green floppy edge. You will be left with a firmer section, which acts like a cup. Spoon the chicken mixture onto the lettuce and sprinkle liberally with peanuts. Squeeze a little lime juice all over before serving.