It’s no secret that we both like to try new and exciting restaurants that open around London Town. A relatively new restaurant, celebrating its second year since opening in 2008, is Cha Cha Moon just off Carnaby Street, London. I have used this restaurant as my inspiration for this dish, as I have eaten a tea-smoked chicken noodle dish there on many occasions.

You do not need to smoke the chicken for this dish, but by doing so you add an extra dimension that eats fantastically well. Tea-smoked flavoured meat is not everybody’s cup of tea (!);  however, I’ve tried it and I certainly love it!

Tea smoking adds a powerful flavour, so rather than cooking the meat through by just hot smoking, I prefer to steam the meat first then lightly smoke it. This keeps the chicken wonderfully moist with a more subtle flavour, which does not overpower everything else in the dish.

You can use any black tea, but if you wanted to be more authentic, use a Chinese tea such as Jasmine, Oolong or Lapsang Souchong. For convenience and practicality, you can use tea from a standard teabag, which works just as well. This dish may look hard, but with a little preparation and forward thinking, it can be knocked out very quickly. Alternatively, if you are not a fan of broths, simply serve the smoked chicken with some stir-frying noodles and vegetables.

Recipe (Serves 2)

 For the chicken:

• 3 free-range chicken thighs
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp black tea or the tea from about 8 teabags
• 3 tbsp Demerara sugar
• 3 tbsp uncooked rice

For the broth:

• 1.4L water
• 100ml Shaoxing rice wine
• 4 spring onions, halved lengthways                                                                             
• 2 large thumb-sized pieces of ginger, unpeeled and sliced
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 1 tsp salt

 To serve:

• 2 pak choi, quartered
• 200g dried ramen noodles
• Soy sauce
• Sesame oil
• 2 spring onion, finely sliced
• 1 red chilli, finely sliced

Cook the noodles as per packet instructions then drain and refresh under cold water, toss with a little oil and leave to one side. Keeping back 3 slices of ginger and 3 halves of spring onion put the rest of the broth ingredients into a pan.

Trim the excess skin from around the chickens and remove the bones (Note: To remove, slice along either side of the bone then run the knife under the bone. Chop away any leftover cartilage). Put any trimmings and the bones into the broth pan and bring to the boil. Allow the broth to gently simmer uncovered for 60 minutes, skimming off any scum that forms on the surface. The broth should have reduced by about a third. Check the seasoning and adjust to your liking. Making the broth can be done in advance.

While the broth is simmering, prepare the chicken. Place a piece of ginger and spring onion in the centre of each chicken thigh then fold over. Put the chicken on a deep heatproof plate or bowl that will fit in your steamer (Note: Make sure there is enough space for the steam to circulate around the plate) then pour over the rice wine, sesame oil and soy sauce.  Steam for 10-12 minutes, once cooked pour away the fat in the bottom of the plate and pop the ginger and spring onion pieces into the broth. Leave the chicken to one side.

To smoke the chicken pieces, wrap the base of a wok with tin foil then scatter over the tea, sugar and rice. Loosely roll another piece of tin foil, form it into an S-shape that fits the bottom of the wok. This will act as a rack to rest your plate of chicken on. Heat the wok over a medium heat, when the mixture starts to smoke, rest the plate on the S-shaped foil in the pan, put a tight fitting lid on top or wrap a piece of foil over the top. Allow to smoke for 6 minutes (Note: Make sure the extractor is on or the windows are open).

To serve, divide the noodles between 2 large bowls, blanch the pak choi in the boiling broth for 2 minutes then divide amongst the bowls. Slice the chicken, sprinkle over a little salt then divide between the bowls. Top each bowl with some sliced spring onion, a few sliced red chillis and a small drizzle of sesame oil. Ladle over the boiling broth and serve with soy sauce and chilli oil.