Sweet and sour rice with black cumin and chicken breasts in honey-soy sauce

Ingredients for 5 servings:

• 150 g onion(s)
• 2 m.-sized garlic bulb(s)
• e.g. Peperoncini
• 10 g fresh ginger
• 700 g white cabbage
• 250 g carrot(s)
• 250 g bell pepper(s)
• 3 tbsp sesame oil, maybe a little more
• Salt
• 1 tsp, levelled allspice, coarsely ground
• 2 tsp, leveled caraway seeds, black, whole
• 120 g Gochujang (Korean chili paste)
• 100 ml rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar, brown or white
• 100 ml water, approx.
• 750 g chicken breast or tofu
• some fat for the meat/tofu, e.g. clarified butter or sunflower oil
• salt and pepper
• 75 g honey
• 75 ml soy sauce
• 500 g basmati rice

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes

also delicious with tofu

Prepare the rice according to the package instructions. For the sauce, chop the onion, garlic, chili peppers, and ginger into small strips. Cut the cabbage, carrot, and bell pepper into long, 1-2 mm wide strips. The carrots can also be grated using a suitable grater. Sauté the small strips in a non-stick frying pan with 2 tablespoons of sesame oil over medium heat and season lightly with salt. After 2-3 minutes, add the remaining vegetables and continue sautéing. Add a little salt to the vegetables. Add a little more sesame oil if needed. The vegetables should only be sautéed until they are still crunchy. Then transfer the vegetables from the pan to a bowl or large plate. In the same pan, briefly toast the allspice and black cumin with a tablespoon of sesame oil over medium heat until you can smell the spices. Add the gochujang paste, rice vinegar, and sugar to the pan. Also add the water. Bring the liquid to a boil, stirring constantly until the gochujang paste is completely dissolved. Then add the vegetables back in. Reduce the excess liquid to a boil over medium-high heat until the sauce has a sticky consistency. While it is reducing, season the sauce with salt, rice vinegar, and sugar. For the meat, cut the chicken breasts in half along the flat side to create two thin steaks. Add a little oil or butter to a frying pan. Sear the meat on both sides over high heat and cook over medium heat until it is still slightly pink. Season the meat with pepper and a little salt and remove from the pan. Add the honey and soy sauce to the pan and stir to dissolve the honey. Add the meat back in and reduce the liquid over medium heat until it is just a viscous mass that sticks to the meat. Depending on your preference, the prepared meat can be cut into strips before serving or served whole with rice and sauce. Tofu is also an excellent substitute for chicken breasts, complementing the dish with a slightly finer texture and milder flavor. The preparation remains the same, except that the tofu should be cut into the desired shape before frying, and there’s no need to season with salt and pepper. Choose the pepperoncini to taste; the gochujang paste already provides some heat.