Make it AND fake it..

Once upon a time, long long ago, in the days before Weight Watchers, when Marcus still sat on his deckchair outside his infamous kosher Chinese Takeaway on Finchley Road, Sunday night was takeaway night. All I had to decide on was a number 25 (sweet and sour chicken) or a number 42 (beef chow mein) and I was set.

I don't remember what I ate for dinner on my first Sunday on Propoints, but I have a feeling it was fairly miserable. Luckily, it wasn't too long before I stumbled on the 'Fakeaway' concept, courtesy of two ladies on the WW boards (known only as 'GreenBronte1' and 'Kuli80'). Armed with their incredible recipes for Chinese and Indian fakeaways, and my trusty actifry, Sunday nights were transformed once again into a cornucopia of culinary delights.

I started off serving these 'fakeaway' dishes with either noodles or rice, but recently stumbled across the amazing 'miracle' rice and noodle products (on sale via Amazon or for slightly fewer £££ in Kosher Kingdom). If you can get over them looking and feeling a little bit like worms, and focus on the fact that each bag contains only 5 calories, then they're a really incredible way of bulking up your dish and allowing you more points to spend on the good stuff.

Tonight's 'Fakeaway' is my own invented 'Hot n Sour soup' recipe followed by Lemon Chicken (thank you once again to GreenBronte1). I really do think it's better than anything even Marcus could rustle up - with far less oil and not even a hint of MSG. The entire recipe comes to 2pp for the soup and just over 14pp for the chicken (for a 328g packet of chicken breast), so assuming you're cooking for 2 adults, it's an 8pp meal (more if you use rice or noodles).

LEMON CHICKEN

I make this in my actifry, which is great for thickening the sauce and cultivating that 'gloopy' takeaway consistency, but it can just as easily be made in a wok or even a frying pan.

INGREDIENTS

1 egg white
1 packet of chicken breast cut in strips (I buy the chicken stir-fry packets from 'Menachems')
3 tspns cornflour
Salt
2 tspns sesame oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Lemon zest (I'm often lazy about this and miss it out)                          
100ml chicken stock
1 heaped teaspoon splenda
2 tblspns Heinz reduced sugar and salt ketchup
1 tblspn soy sauce
2 tblspns sherry
1 clove garlic
1 red chilli pepper
4 spring onions

Combine the egg white, 2 tspns of cornflour, salt, sesame oil and chicken in a bowl. Coat chicken well and leave for 20 minutes to marinade.

Spray the actifry (or wok) with frylight. Fry the chicken for a few minutes and stir to prevent it sticking.

When the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the pan. Add the stock, lemon juice and zest, splenda, soy sauce, ketchup and sherry. Mix and add chopped garlic clove and chilli pepper. Bring to the boil, and add a paste made of the remaining cornflour with a little water. Simmer till thickened, then add the chicken back in, along with the spring onions, shredded or chopped, and cook until warmed through.

Lovely served with rice or 'miracle rice'.

HOT n SOUR SOUP

I literally threw this together at the last minute from ingredients I had in the kitchen; it's probably not even vaguely authentic but it tastes great and is extremely low in points, so why not?!

INGREDIENTS

500ml leftover Shabbos chicken soup
1 tin of bamboo shoots
Handful of sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/3 cup water
2 spring onions
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 slice chicken breast deli meat
Pepper and garlic powder to taste

Bring the chicken soup to the boil, add soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil and water, followed by the bamboo shoots and mushrooms. Bring back to the boil and simmer till mushrooms begin to soften. Add in spring onions and deli meat (cut into strips), season to taste and simmer till fully cooked. Serves 2.