Recipe: Chicken Dim Sum

I love rediscovering cookbooks. Do you ever find that you end up cooking the same things over and over when you're in a rush, and things just get a little boring? That's when I return to my little library of cookbooks.

When time's an issue Jamie's 15 Minute Meals is the perfect companion. Ok, it might not take 15 minutes, and some of the ingredients are hideously expensive, as are lots of the specialised equipment he uses, but with careful tweaking you can still make a tasty dinner without breaking the bank.
I bought a bamboo steamer months ago, and shamefully it has remained in its wrapper. Last night, I decided to baptise it by making Chicken Dim from Jamie's 15 minute meals (adapted below).

I omitted the pickled ginger as I forgot to buy it earlier in Asda, and when I looked in Waitrose, it was pretty expensive, but the meal still tasted epic without.

No real specialist equipment is needed - just an inexpensive bamboo steamer and speed peeler for the cucumber ribbons.

To serve 4 (or two little piggies), you'll need

1x 400g tin of light coconut milk
2 coconut milk tins of self raising flour
2x 200g skinless chicken breasts
140g mixed mushrooms
3tbsp hoi sin sauce, plus extra to serve
2 limes
200g tenderstem broccoli (I was feeling cheap and used regular broccoli (chopped) which worked perfectly well)
1 cucumber
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp white wine vinegar or rice wine vinegar
1/s bunch fresh coriander
1x 105g pickled ginger (optional)
Cashew nuts (optional)
1 fresh chilli

1. Start by making the coconut buns. Mix together the flour and coconut milk with a seasoning of salt until you have a smooth dough. Use a little extra flour for dusting and roll into a sausage shape before cutting into 8 equally sized pieces. Place in double lined muffin cases. Pour 5cm of boiling water into a wok, and pack the buns into the steamer with a lid.

2. Cut the chicken into 1 cm strips and mix together with the hoi sin, juice of half a lime and a little salt. Place in a second steamer basket with the broccoli and a scattering of freshly chopped chilli and place under the steaming coconut buns as you don't want the chicken dripping onto the buns.

3. In the meantime, make a pickle by using a speed peeler to make cucumber ribbons. Dress in a small bowl with the white wine vinegar and soy sauce, and a few coriander leaves. Scrunch together.

4. After 5-10 minutes everything will be cooked through and the coconut buns will have puffed up nicely.

5. Serve everything in small dishes which everyone can help themselves to.