I do love a bit of jerk chicken – hot, spicy and aromatic, but I am also a lover of asian flavours especially as they are also hot, spicy and aromatic! And so, why can’t you make jerk chicken with asian flavours instead?

Well, you can and when you accompany it with my Veggie Soba Salad you get great flavour but a lighter tasting dish altogether than it’s Carribean Cousin. This recipe works on exactly the same method as traditional jerk namely making a great marinade and letting the chicken soak in it for as long as possible and then using the left over marinade as the finishing sauce for the Soba Salad.

Ingredients (serves 2, heartily):
For the Marinade:
A thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped.
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed.
1 decent sized scotch bonnet chillies or 3 / 4 birds eye chillies depending on how much heat you can take without it masking the other flavours.
1 tblsp of palm sugar.
2 tblsp of dark soya sauce
1 tblsp of thick sweet soya sauce (indonesian if you can get it).
2 tsp of sesame oil
1 tblsp of peanut oil
Zest and juice of 1 lime.
Juice only of 1 lemon.
Lots of freshly ground pepper.
1 stick of cinnamon.
1/2 star anise.
2 1/4 portions of chicken breast on the bone, skin on.
Method:
Mix all of the above ingredients into a wide dish.
Take two 1/4 of chicken breast, on the bone and skin on.
Cut three or four deep slices in the skin side of the meat using a sharp knife and place the chicken skin side down into the marinade.
Cover well with clingfilm and place in a fridge for at least a couple of hours, ideally overnight, even best for 24 hours.
When ready to cook, either prepare a BBQ for an extra smokey flavour, or turn your grill on to high.
Place the chicken on a grill pan, skin side up first. Place under the grill and cook for about 25 minutes, or until the meat is no longer pick (even up against the bone), turning every 10 minutes.
Every time you turn the chicken, baste the meat with the left over marinade.
After you have turned the meat for the last time, decant the left over marinade into a saucepan.
Bring the marinade to the boil, and cook on a fast boil for about 10 minutes to ensure it is piping hot as it will have been in contact with raw chicken meat for a long time.
When it has thickend and reduced, turn off the heat and set aside.
Meanwhile, prepare your Veggie Soba Salad….
Ingredients:
1 corgette peeled into ribbons using a veg peeler.
2 medium carrots peeled into ribbons using a veg peeler.
1/2 a sweet pepper or 1 whole bell pepper sliced thinly.
3 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal.
Small handful of button mushrooms, finely sliced.
1/2 head of iceberg lettuce finely sliced.
1/2 bunch of fresh coriander, roughly chopped.
Rapeseed and sesame oils for dressing and fresh black pepper for seasoning (no need for salt anywhere due to the soya sauce in the marinade).
1 tsp of toasted sesame seeds.
1 bunch of dried Soba noodles (whole buckwheat noodles).
Method:
Boil some salted water in a pan and pop in the noodles and cook according to packet instructions (apx 5 mins).
When soft, drained ansd rinse thoroughly with cold water.
Drain again and set aside.
Placed all the chopped vegetables into a serving dish.
Pop in the Soba noodles.
Add in the rapeseed and sesame oils to taste. Use the rapeseed as the base as sesame oil should be used as a condiment to flavour rather than to lubricate.
Toss everything together and to coat well with the oils.
Toast the sesame seeds in a skillet and add on top.
Lastly, place the rested chicken on top of the Soba Salad and drizzle all over with the reduced sticky marinade sauce.
And….Enjoy!