Lemongrass and Ginger Chicken with Rice

Ingredients

• 1 litre chicken stock
• 2 lemongrass stalks, bruised and halved lengthways
• 40g fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into coins
• 4 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 lime, juice only
• 4 skinless chicken breasts (approx. 180g each)
• 300g jasmine rice, rinsed
• 4 bok choy, halved lengthways
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 small bunch fresh coriander, leaves picked, to serve
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal, to serve
• 1 fresh red chilli, finely sliced into rings, to serve
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, to serve
• 2 limes, cut into wedges, to serve
• light soy sauce, to serve
• Chilli crisp oil, to serve
• Pickled cucumber, to serve

Method

1. Pour the stock into a wide, deep saucepan and add the lemongrass, ginger, crushed garlic, soy sauce and fish sauce. Bring to the boil over a high heat, then drop to a gentle simmer — the garlic infuses gently in the liquid here, so there's no risk of it burning, but you do want it fragrant within a minute, the kitchen smelling unmistakably of citrus and ginger.
2. Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt, then lower them into the broth so they're fully submerged. Poach over a low heat — barely a tremor on the surface, never a rolling boil, or the breasts go stringy — for 18–20 minutes, until opaque throughout and 70°C at the thickest point.
3. While the chicken poaches, cook the jasmine rice in a separate pan to packet instructions. Pull it off the heat, lid on, and leave to steam for 5 minutes — that rest is what gives you separate grains rather than a sticky clump.
4. Lift the chicken out and rest on a board. Strain the broth through a sieve into a jug, discard the aromatics, then stir the lime juice into the broth off the heat — boiling kills the brightness. Taste, season, taste again: most of the salt is already there from the soy and fish sauce, but it usually wants one more pinch to tie it together. Adjust now, not at the table.
5. Return the strained broth to the pan and bring back to a gentle simmer. Add the bok choy cut-side down and cook for 3–4 minutes, until the stems take a knife-tip easily but the leaves still hold their shape.
6. Lift the bok choy out and toss straight away with the sesame oil and the teaspoon of soy — the residual heat pulls the dressing into the leaves and gives you that glossy sheen.
7. Slice each chicken breast on the diagonal into thick pieces. Divide the rice between four warmed bowls and arrange the chicken and bok choy alongside.
8. Ladle the hot broth generously over each bowl. Scatter over the coriander leaves, spring onions, red chilli rings and toasted sesame seeds, tuck a few slices of pickled cucumber alongside, and squeeze a lime wedge over the top. Soy sauce and chilli crisp oil go on the table for everyone to season their own.