Whenever I’m ill (or mostly hungover) I always crave Chicken Itame from Wagamamas – it’s a fresh, green based curry broth with chicken and lots of vegetables and is packed with flavour. I still get the joy of a takeaway without the guilt of really naughty fast food.

Until last week, I was living in the Borders where there aren’t even any thai takeaways nevermind a Wagas. I now live just outside the Deliveroo catchment in Edinburgh (weeps). I decided I wasn’t going to miss out and decided to make my own. I’ve created this recipe using a few others as inspiration and adapting it myself. It’s, hands down, one of the best things I’ve ever made. Luckily I made way too much so have a couple of leftover tubs for lunch. Yummy. Disclaimer: it literally tastes like the Wagas version.

CHICKEN ITAME 

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 4 chicken breasts, sliced
• 150g rice noodles (I like the flat wide ones like tagliatelle)
• 160g bean sprouts
• 120-150g baby pak choi, sliced lengthways
• 120g bamboo shoots
• 4 spring onions, chopped
• 1/2 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 50g coriander, roughly chopped
• 1 lemongrass stick
• 4 large flat mushrooms
• 200ml coconut milk
• 2 chicken stock cubes (I like Kallo Organic)
• 800ml hot water (to make up the stock)
• 1 tsp garlic purée
• 2 tbsp green curry paste (Mae Ploy is my favourite) – this makes is really spicy, reduce by half if needed
• 2 tsp olive or sesame oil
• 1 lime, quartered, to serve

Method 

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees / 180 degrees fan oven
2. Take the sliced chicken, place in an oven proof dish, season with salt and pepper and top up the dish with boiling water, cover with a suitable lid or tin foil and pop in the oven for 25-30 minutes
3. Take a large pan and heat 1 tsp oil over a low-medium heat
4. Add curry paste and mix the two together
5. Add coconut milk
6. Make up your stock cubes with the hot water and add this to the pan and stir until it’s all mixed together nicely – simmer for 5 minutes
7. Add the coriander, chilli, lemongrass, garlic purée, spring onions and red onion and simmer for 10-15 minutes
8. Meanwhile, take your noodles and pop them in a heat proof dish, submerse fully in boiling water and cover – they take about 10 minutes to soften (please check your own packet for directions in case these differ)
9. In another pan, use the remaining 1 tsp oil, heat on a medium temperature and fry off the mushrooms for a few minutes then add the pak choi, bamboo shoots and fry for a further few minutes
10. By now, the chicken should be ready – take it out of the oven and drain off the water, it should be nice and tender!
11. Add the chicken and mushrooms, pak choi and bamboo shoots to the broth in the main pan
12. Likewise, drain the rice noodles and rinse in hot water
13. Now you can assemble (don’t forget to take the lemongrass stick out first!) – noodles on bottom, topped with chicken and vegetables then ladle the broth over until you have a big ol’ bowl of chicken itame joy
14. Serve with a few sprigs of fresh coriander and a quart of lime per bowl

And there you have it, chicken itame, just like yo’ (waga)mama made it!

Enjoy 🙂

💛 the wee food blogger <<<<
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