We had this lovely recipe for dinner this evening. I found the idea on the web, but can’t remember where now. It was a slow cooker recipe, but I just bubbled it on the hob, and I’ve tweaked it, as you do.

It’s a strong flavoured sauce, robust and delicious. A little goes a long way. It’s tastes similar to the soy, honey and sesame sauce.

200g chicken breast Asda Chosen By You, cooked breast strips 750g/£4, £1.06
Good pinch black pepper
100ml soy sauce Asda 59p/150ml, 24p
1 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp tomato ketchup 1p
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce Asda, Blue Dragon £1.50/380g, 6p
1 tbsp sugar
A garlic clove Asda granules 98p/115g, 2p
Half tsp fresh ginger Asda Chosen By You easy ginger £1.87/95g, 4p
50g salted cashews, Smartprice 75p/125g, 30p

160g value rice, 1kg/40p, 6p

Total price £1.79, 89p a serving

Serves 2
per serving 458 cals, 35g protein, 14g fat, 47g carbs, 2g fibre

Chop the chicken into small pieces. Mix all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan, except the cashews.

Bubble the sauce down until it is thick and very reduced. Add the chopped chicken. Stir in the cashews when you are ready to serve. I like them like this so they are still crunchy, if you like them softer, add the cashews at the beginning of the cooking process.

While that is happening, cook the rice until tender and drain well.

If you are using uncooked chicken, add it at the start of the cooking process of the sauce, as it reduces down.

Serve with a pile of greens. We had runner beans from the garden. You could use buttery cabbage, steamed kale, diced carrots and peas, pak choi, whatever you have.

The chicken can be swapped out for prawns, or paneer for a vegetarian version, tofu for vegan. Or use pieces of pork, cooked butter beans or chick peas.

You could use salted peanuts instead of the cashews, or any other nuts. As in the soy, honey and sesame recipe, you could add sesame seeds as well as, or instead of, the nuts.

I know this works out to more than our usual main meal amounts, but is still doable within a £1 a day budget by spreading the budget over 2 days and choosing some of the cheaper options.

For example, you could choose

Day 1
Breakfast 2 slices toast, 1 with poached egg, 1 with marmalade, 13p
Lunch Tomato and Lentil Soup 18p
Dinner Cashew Chicken 89p
Snack Rosemary, mustard and cayenne scone, 4p and 5 Raisin Biscuits 7p

Day 2
Breakfast Jammy Oat Bars, 7p
Lunch Beef and Sun Dried Tomato Paste, on toast or as a sandwich, 13p
Dinner Balti Spring Green Pancakes 15p
Snack – a muffin, about 5p, many flavours, search for ‘muffins’, and 5 Oat biscuits, 5p

A total of £1.76 for 2 days

I love this recipe and this is already the second time we’ve had it