Togarashi Breaded Chicken with Stir-Fried Sprouts

As regular readers will know, I'm a bit of a fan of Japanese 7 spice (AKA shichi-mi togarashi). It's just a flavour bomb that brightens up any dish, especially when you're working with Asian flavours. The blends can vary slightly but usually it contains chilli pepper, ginger, black and white sesame seeds, seaweed, poppy seeds and orange peel. Hot, sweet, sour and salty - everything you need!

In this dish, I used it to jazz up breaded chicken breasts which I served alongside stir-fried sprouts. Again, you all know how much I love a sprout! So this dish was heaven for me. You can find the seasoning online really easily these days and in some of the bigger supermarkets. But if you like you can used Chinese 5 Spice instead and swap the sprouts for your favourite greens.

Togarashi Breaded Chicken with Stir-Fried Sprouts

Serves 2

oil

2 free-range chicken breasts

75g flour

3 tsp shichi-mi togarashi (or Chinese 5 spice)

1 egg

60g breadcrumbs

250g Brussels sprouts, trimmed and shredded

3 spring onions, sliced

1 tbsp light soy sauce

½ lemon, juice only

2 limes, 1 juice only, 1 cut into wedges

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bash the chicken breasts between two sheets of baking paper or cling film with a rolling pin (or the heel of your hand) until half a centimetre thick.

Mix the flour, 2 tsp togarashi, some salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Beat the egg in a separate shallow bowl. Mix the breadcrumbs and the remaining 1 tsp togarashi in a third shallow bowl. Coat the chicken in the flour mix, then the beaten egg, then the breadcrumbs. I find using tongs for this prevents you also breadcrumb-ing your hands!

Heat a drizzle of oil in a large frying pan over a low-medium heat. Add the chicken and fry for 6-8 minutes until golden, then flip and cook for the same time on the other side. If you're nervous, just cut into the thickest part of the chicken to check it's cooked through. Remove from the pan, wrap in tinfoil and leave to rest.

Heat another drizzle of oil in the pan. Turn the heat up to high and add the sprouts and spring onions. Cook for two minutes and then add the soy sauce, lemon and lime juices. Continue to cook for a further 2-3 minutes until the onions are starting to brown. Remove from the heat and drizzle in the sesame oil. Season well with black pepper.

To serve, divide the sprouts between plates. Slice the chicken and plate alongside. Serve with the lime wedges for squeezing over.