Tonight, I had a craving for some type of Asian food. I had chicken, sweet potatoes and broccoli, and I always have a solid stash of rice noodles. Being a salt addict, I knew I wanted to douse the chicken in a salty sauce, hence I came to the decision of teriyaki sauce. I wanted to experiment a little with the flavours, so I added some horseradish into the mix. I’m also a big fan of a one pot dish, or a one bake dish if it’s a busy evening. This dish is pretty much on track for that (i.e it requires minimal effort). The only thing I decided to cook separately was the broccoli, which isn’t actually necessary. Nonetheless, throw your chicken (whether breasts, legs or thighs) into a baking dish with the potatoes and smother it in soya sauce and horseradish. Cook the rice noodles and broccoli while the chicken and potatoes are cooking, then put them all together in a large pot and heat together with some more sauce and spices.

This dish has an Asian comfort food feel to it, but is actually quite healthy. You could also replace the sauce with a thicker choice (like Hoisin) if you preferred. Asian culture is so diverse that you have many flavours you can work with. This dish is a little more on the Chinese side, but if you wanted to incorporate the soya sauce still, you can create something Thai, like chicken in a peanut sauce. That’s another favourite of mine.

Diversify your tastes and play around with any of these recipes. But for now, here is the recipe for the dish described above!

Ingredients: 6 boneless-skinless chicken thighs, 1 whole sweet potato (washed and peeled), 3 tbsp sesame seeds, 1 cup chicken broth, 1 cup teriyaki sauce, 1/4 cup horseradish, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp ginger powder, 1 head broccoli, 1/2 package rice noodles

Instructions: preheat oven to 425 degrees. Marinate chicken with a mixture of Teriyaki, chicken broth, horseradish, garlic, ginger and sesame seeds. Cut the sweet potato into 1-inch cubes or slices and place in baking dish with chicken. Bake for 35 minutes exactly. While the chicken and potatoes are baking, steam broccoli and boil rice noodles. Serve chicken and vegetables over the noodles and pour extra marinade at the base of the dish over everything.