049 / 75 · Vegetables, fish and hearty plates
Ginger Chicken and Cabbage Pots
2 chicken-and-rice meals, each with one complete 120 g raw-weight chicken pot and half the 250 g rice pouch · Active 20 min · Cook 16 min · Total 45 min
Print recipe · PDFTwo shallow chicken-and-cabbage pots cook one after the other, so the raw chicken is not hidden in one deep crowded bowl. Ginger and a small measured sauce flavor the vegetables as they soften. A ready-cooked rice pouch receives its own full package process at the end, giving both portions an included starch without claiming that dry rice cooks in two minutes.
Build two shallow portions
Cut the chicken into even pieces about 1.5 cm across and the vegetables into thin shreds. Divide everything between two broad bowls before cooking, and keep the second raw portion refrigerated until its turn. Stir each bowl during heating, lifting pieces from the bottom into the middle. A larger single bowl is not an equivalent timed shortcut.
Rice has its own process
Use a commercially packed plain ready-to-eat rice pouch. Its complete venting, heating and standing instructions still apply. The rice heats only after both chicken pots have left the oven; the second pot can stand covered during that step. Keep the first pot covered during this short continuous preparation and serve both promptly.
Ingredients
- 240 g (8.5 oz) raw boneless skinless chicken breast, refrigerated and fully thawed, cut into even 1.5 cm (⅝ in) pieces
- 240 g (8.5 oz) white cabbage, washed and thinly shredded
- 100 g (3.5 oz) carrot, peeled and coarsely grated
- 10 g (0.35 oz) fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
- 20 ml (1 US tbsp plus 1 US tsp) reduced-salt soy sauce
- 10 ml (2 US tsp) toasted sesame oil
- 15 ml (1 US tbsp) rice vinegar
- 10 g (0.35 oz) honey
- 60 ml (¼ US cup) water
- 20 g (0.71 oz) spring onion, thinly sliced and kept separate for finishing
- 1 commercially packed 250 g (8.8 oz) ready-to-eat plain rice pouch with a full microwave heating process of 2 minutes or less at 1000 W
Set out
1000 W microwave with turntable, Two shallow wide microwave-safe bowls, each at least 1.5 L (1.6 US qt) capacity and about 20 cm (8 in) inside diameter, Two microwave-safe vented covers, Knife and board for vegetables, Separate board and utensils for raw chicken, Clean spoon for cooked portions, Kitchen scale and measuring jug, Fast-tip food thermometer, Oven mitts, Two serving plates or bowls
Allergens
Soy, Wheat, Sesame. Check labels and substitutions.
Make it
- Divide chicken, cabbage, carrot, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, honey and water equally between the two wide bowls; each receives 120 g chicken and 30 ml water. Mix to coat and keep the food layer shallow and loose. Cover both with vented covers and refrigerate the second bowl while the first cooks. Wash hands and clean the raw-chicken preparation area.
- Microwave the first covered bowl at 1000 W full power for 2 minutes. Stir thoroughly with a utensil that is kept for this cooking stage, moving outer food into the middle and separating chicken pieces. Continue at 70% power in 1-minute bursts, stirring each time, for about 3–5 minutes more until several of the largest chicken pieces, including pieces from the center and edges, reach 165°F/74°C. Any cooler piece needs more heating and another check. Leave covered for 2 minutes outside the oven.
- Cook the second bowl by the same complete process, including the temperature checks and 2-minute covered stand. Keep the first cooked portion covered during this short continuous preparation. After handling undercooked pieces, clean the thermometer and utensils before using them on ready-to-eat portions.
- During the second bowl's stand, heat the full rice pouch by all its manufacturer's instructions, including venting and its own required stand. A longer package process extends the clock. Divide all the hot rice equally between serving bowls, add one entire chicken-cabbage pot with all its sauce to each and finish each with 10 g spring onion. Use a clean serving spoon and eat promptly.
One oven means two meat cooks
The listed 240 g chicken is split 120 g into each pot. Cook the bowls separately; two bowls crammed into the oven together do not use this timing.
The sauce is all included
Each person receives half the measured soy sauce, oil, vinegar, honey and water, with the vegetable and chicken juices. There is no separate unmeasured dipping sauce.
Ingredient labels
Ordinary soy sauce often contains wheat. Check rice, sauce and other product labels; the base uses plain chicken without a packaged marinade.
A useful detail
Allow 45 minutes: roughly 16 minutes initial preparation and division, up to 7 minutes heating each chicken pot in sequence, up to 2 minutes rice heating and the required stands and serving. The first chicken stand can overlap the second pot's heating; the second stand can overlap rice heating. Extra chicken bursts or a longer rice label process extend the clock. Each raw portion is checked to 165°F/74°C before its covered stand; no color-only test is used.
Another way
- Replace cabbage with 240 g (8.5 oz) washed finely shredded bok choy, keeping stalks thin enough to cook with the chicken. Use the same complete chicken checks and covered stands.
- Replace honey with 10 g (0.35 oz) brown sugar stirred into the measured water before dividing the sauce. The quantity of water does not change.
Keep it well
If keeping a portion, put the chicken and rice into shallow covered containers and refrigerate quickly, ideally within 1 hour of heating the rice, at 40°F/4°C or below. Use within 24 hours or sooner if the rice label directs. Eat these saved assembled portions cold: the ready-cooked rice already had its reheating stage, so do not reheat it again. Do not save a partly cooked chicken pot for completion later.