Steamed sesame chicken salad

Ingredients:

For the dressing
4 tbsp soy sauce

4 tbsp caster sugar

3 tbsp rice vinegar

Half a cube chicken stock

Half a tsp sea salt

1 tbsp sesame oil

For the salad
1 tsp sea salt

1 chicken breast

2 tbsp sake

Half a medium Iceberg lettuce, thinly sliced

Half a cucumber, thinly sliced

A few wedges of tomato

A few thin slices of red onion

Method:

This is my family's favourite salad; it's filling and tasty but incredibly healthy.

Put everything for the dressing – except the sesame oil – into a saucepan with eight tablespoons of water. Place over a low heat and bring to the boil. Stir, making sure both the sugar and chicken stock cube dissolve completely. Remove from the heat, let cool, then add the sesame oil. Cover and chill in the fridge until needed.

Sprinkle the salt on the chicken on both sides and place on a heatproof dish. Add the sake.

Put two centimetres of cold water in a large saucepan and add a trivet that emerges above the level of the water. Place the chicken dish on the trivet. Cover the saucepan. Place the saucepan on the hob and cook on a medium heat for 25 minutes from start to finish.

Remove the dish from the saucepan, and leave until cool enough to handle. Tear the chicken into strips.

Put the lettuce on a plate and arrange the cucumber, tomato and red onion over it. Put the chicken on top. Toss with the sesame dressing and serve. Serves two: 494 kcal in total, 247 kcal per serving.

Sushi Slim by Makiko Sano, photographs by Lisa Linder, is published by Quadrille