Chicken chow mein and Wild Beer Everstone.

 

This will be my last beer and food matching with alcohol until February as I will be undertaking Dry January. However, I will be matching food with no and low alcohol beers for the whole of the month. Despite the fact that this blog was loaded early in the new year the meal was cooked on the 29th December. 

Chicken Chow Mein (Serves one)

• One nest of dried noodles
• 60 - 70 gms skinless chicken (either breast of thigh meat is fine)
• A handful of mushrooms
• Half a medium onion sliced
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• Small lump of peeled ginger finely chopped
• A handful of bean sprouts
• A few peas
• 1 tbsp of corn flour
• Soy Sauce
• Sesame oil
• Vegetable oil for frying

Boil the noodles according to the instructions on the packet and then cool them down under a running tap until they are cold. allow them to drip for a few minutes then stir a couple of teaspoons of the sesame oil.

Meanwhile chop the chicken into bite sized pieces and dredge them with the cornflour, ensuring total coverage. Pop a little vegetable oil into a wok and heat it up. Add the onions and fry for a short while. Then add the garlic and ginger and cook for a couple of more minutes. Put this in a bowl and set aside. Put a little more oil in the wok and add the chicken. fry until nearly cooked and add the mushrooms until they are cooked. Add the onions, garlic , ginger, peas, bean sprouts and noodles and stir fry until everything is piping hot. Add quite a few dashes of the soy sauce and serve.

(You could add some finely chopped chilli with the onions if you fancy a bit of heat).

The Match

Wild Beer Company went into liquidation a while ago but was rescued and are still producing this awesome beer. I discovered it a couple of years ago and it's one of the few beers I always have in the fridge. It describes itself as a New Zealand IPA which  sounds a bit weird but as it uses New Zealand hops the concept seems to work. It is full of tropical fruits on the nose -  mango, lychee, pawpaw. Then on the palate it seems to move onto stone fruit - peaches, nectarine and even pear. Its all held together by both a malty spine and  a crisp finish.

This collection of big flavours manage to deal with the strong and rich flavours in the dish with all the fruit weighing in against all the salt and the bitterness balancing the richness.