Ingredients

For the pickled vegetables:-

• 4 radishes
• 1/4 of a cucumber
• a thumb-sized piece of ginger
• 1 red chilli, deseeded
• 1 tbsp salt
• 120ml rice wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 4 tbsp water
  
  

For the chicken:-

• 1 tbsp wasabi paste
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• a little of your pickled ginger
• 2 chicken breasts (300g)
  
  

For the noodles:-

• 1/2 an onion
• 1 red pepper
• 1 clove of garlic
• a thumb sized piece of ginger
• a glug of oil
• a handful of sugar snap peas
• udon noodles (200g)
• a couple of spring onions, finely sliced
  
  

For the coleslaw:-

• 1 carrot
• 1 small bulb of fennel
• 1 red onion
• a handful of toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp of brown sugar
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• 2 tsp of mirin
• 1 tsp of sesame oil
  
  

Recipe

Pickled Veg
wash and slice the radishes and cut the cucumber, ginger and chilli into short, thin strips.
add the vegetables to a bowl and toss with the salt, then leave for 30 minutes.
heat the vinegar, sugar and water until the mixture is boiling and the sugar is dissolved.
drain the salted veg to remove excess salty brine, then pour the boiling liquid over the vegetables. Allow to cool before wrapping the bowl in Clingfilm and leaving in the fridge until needed.

Chicken
mix the wasabi paste, honey, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil in a bowl.
set aside half of the dressing for later.
cut the chicken into thin strips and chuck into the remaining half of the wasabi dressing.
leave in the fridge to marinade for up to a day.
preheat an oven to 180ºC. Line a baking tray with foil.
place the chicken onto the lined baking tray and bake for 10 minutes, until cooked through.

Noodles
finely slice the onion and pepper then peel and grate the garlic and ginger.
heat the oil in a wok (or a frying pan). Throw in the onion, garlic, ginger, pepper and sugar snap peas and fry for a couple of minutes until they begin to soften.
add the noodles to the pan and heat everything through.
tip the contents of the wok into a bowl, toss with the spring onions and cool in the fridge.

Coleslaw
grate the carrots and finely slice the fennel and red onion.
stick them all in a bowl then sprinkle over the sesame seeds and brown sugar.
mix the soy sauce, mirin and sesame oil then toss it with the carrot mixture.

To Serve
place the coleslaw, pickled vegetables, chicken pieces and noodles into different compartments of a bento box for lunch, then pour the rest of the wasabi dressing into a pot to drizzle over later.

serves 2