Firecracker chicken with cavolo nero rice
Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Martin Poole
Firecracker chicken with cavolo nero rice
A good firecracker sauce is a riot of flavour that balances sweetness, spice and a hint of savouriness with sharp acidity. It goes brilliantly with chicken, but it’s also a great accompaniment for steak, pork or prawns, or even to pep up a veggie stir-fry
Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
734Kcal
Fat
23gr
Saturates
5gr
Carbs
56gr
Sugars
7gr
Fibre
3gr
Protein
74gr
Salt
2.5gr
Sarah Akhurst
Our Food Director Sarah is a food obsessive, and spends most of her time scoping out the latest food trends, experimenting in her own kitchen, or making her family wait to eat while she photographs every dinner she makes for the 'gram! A complete Middle Eastern food junkie, she is never far from a good shawarma marinade, a pinch of Aleppo chilli or a sprig of dill
See more of Sarah Akhurst’s recipes
Sarah Akhurst
Our Food Director Sarah is a food obsessive, and spends most of her time scoping out the latest food trends, experimenting in her own kitchen, or making her family wait to eat while she photographs every dinner she makes for the 'gram! A complete Middle Eastern food junkie, she is never far from a good shawarma marinade, a pinch of Aleppo chilli or a sprig of dill
See more of Sarah Akhurst’s recipes
Ingredients
For the chicken
- a 1.75-2kg chicken
- 2-3 limes, halved
- 1 tbsp chilli oil (we used Lee Kum Kee Chiu Chow chilli oil)
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- ½ tbsp tamarind paste
- 4 tbsp barbecue sauce (we used The Sauce Shop Original BBQ)
For the rice
- 240g white rice (or 350g if you’re planning to serve 6 people)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- 3cm root ginger, cut into match sticks
- 120g shiitake mushrooms
- 200g cavolo nero, tough stalks removed and roughly shredded
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp black or white sesame seeds
Step by step
Get ahead
Make the sauce and prepare the chicken up to 24 hrs ahead, cover and chill. Leftover roast chicken can be kept chilled for up to 3 days.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4 and put the chicken in a roasting tin with the lime halves. Mix all of the sauce ingredients together in a bowl. Carefully slide your hands underneath the skin of the chicken, lifting it away from the breast and taking care not to tear the skin. Spoon a third of the sauce into this pocket then rub it all over the breast. Season the skin lightly with salt and roast for 55 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the oven and increase the temperature to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Set the roasted limes aside. Brush half of the remaining sauce all over the chicken, return it to the oven for another 15 minutes then brush with the rest of the sauce and roast for a final 15 minutes, checking that the chicken is fully cooked (if you need to return it to the oven, cover the skin loosely with foil to prevent the glaze darkening too much). Leave to rest for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook the rice following pack instructions. Heat the sesame oil in a large frying pan and fry the garlic and ginger for a minute. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes before adding the cavolo nero and soy sauce. Stir-fry for 3-4 minutes, then add the drained rice and continue to cook for another 3-4 minutes, until the rice and veg are well combined. Toss the sesame seeds through and serve with the chicken and roast limes.
