Vegan Fake-away Lemon Chick'n

Before I went vegan one of my favourite dishes from the Chinese take-away was lemon chicken. It's taken me over a year to actually come up with this recipe, which is actually really easy

I've added some extra prep time for this recipe as I like to prepare the sauce before I start cooking the veg etc. You will need an electric whisk for this recipe.

Ingredients

For the lemon sauce

• 100ml double strength lemon squash- This gives quite a strong lemon flavour, reduce if you're worried it'll be too strong reduce this. You can always add some more at the end.

• 700ml stock- I used vegetable, but if you can get hold of vegan chicken that would be preferred

• 3/4-1tsp Xantham gum- cornflour would also work, but you may need to ajust the amount

For the dish

• "Chick'n" (Chicken substitute)- If you watched my YOUTUBE video for this recipe I mentioned that I used the It's LivB seitan nugget recipe (minus the breading), I just roll the cooked seitan in some cornflour and fried it off to make it crispy. I make half this recipe and it does me for two of Of course you can choose your own chicken substitute or other protein source.

• 1 White onion

• 3 Garlic cloves- minced or chopped

• 2 peppers (colour of your choice)- chopped

• Pack of babycorn (roughly 130g)- chopped

• Sesame seeds- optional for topping

Method

This method is working on the presumption that you have your chick'n or other substitute ready .

The sauce

1. Measure out the lemon squash and pour boiling over it and mix in the stock cube.

2. Heat this mixture in a pan until it come to the boil. Reduce the heat and summer for a few minutes, stir making sure the stuck cube is fully dissolved.

3. Turn off the heat and remove about a third of the liquid from the pan. Then adding about a quarter of a teaspoon at a time of the xantham gum, whisk this into the liquid you have removed. Once you've added no more than one teaspoon of xantham gum just keep whisking until you're happy with the consistency. It should go almost jelly like, I show this process in my recipe video.

4. Add in the remaining liquid from the pan and gently stir together to combine. You may also want to try the sauce at this point, especially if you used less lemon squash, and adjust accordingly. Set the sauce aside for later.

The main dish

1. Heat the oil of your choice (I used coconut) over a low heat and gently cook the onion for about 5 minutes. Cooking the onions slowly will give them a sweeter flavour, which is what you want for this dish.

2. Add in your veg, including the garlic and again cook to your desired texture. I personally prefer a bit of crunch when it comes to this dish, so just pop the lid on and allow them to steam for 5-10 minutes.

3. Add in your chick'n and heat through. Finally add the sauce and again allow to heat through. Taste your sauce and you can add a bit more lemon squash at this

4. Serve with rice (I go for my instant pot coconut rice) and top with sesame seeds if desired.

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Notes

• Seitan is not gluten free. Substitute for another protein source such as tofu.

• I use double strength squash. If you can't find double strength or just want to use a cordial this is fine. Just remember you may need more.

• If you're feeling fancy you can garnish with some lemon wedges as well.

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If you re-create this or any of my other recipes I would love for you to tag me on Instagram @wilfycamille

Likewise if you you make any changes or have any other (constructive) feedback about the recipe that other readers may find useful please leave a comment below.