Recipe: Stir Fried Chicken

I love cooking over the weekend. After 5 days of typical Indian food – roti, vegetables, lentils – I crave different cuisines. And though the weekend is the only time I cook, I don’t always want to make something elaborate or experimental. One-pot dishes bursting with flavors and color are my favorites at those times.

One of my go-to dishes is this absolutely yummy Stir Fried Chicken. I combined elements from a couple of different recipes and added a few touches of my own. The result – simple, wholesome, nutritious, and quick!

Before we begin, a couple of notes:

1. Do yourself a favor and prepare everything before you start cooking. Stir frying means you’re going cook everything over a high flame very quickly. There’s no time to mix and measure ingredients.

2. You can substitute the chicken with any other meat of your choice. For vegetarians, up the quantity of vegetables and add some tofu.

3. You can substitute, or add on more, vegetables, including: broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, any color of bell pepper, any mushroom, water chestnuts, green onions, etc.

Ok, here we go!

Ingredients:
500 gms boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 tablespoons peanut oil, divided (plus extra to drizzle over meat)
1/4 cup soy sauce (plus extra to drizzle over meat)
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock, divided
1 medium onion, finely sliced
1 red bell pepper, cut into chunks
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into chunks
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
1 packet mushrooms, sliced
1 packet baby corn, cut into chunks
1 packet snowpeas, cut into halves
1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro
1 tsp cornflower

Preparation instructions:
Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces, drizzle with a bit of soy sauce and peanut oil. Mix and set aside.

Meanwhile, chop all your vegetables so you have them ready. Mix 1/4 cup soy sauce and 1/4 cup oyster sauce. Stir together and set aside.

Mix 1/4 cup chicken stock with cornflower. Stir together and set aside. Measure an additional 1/4 cup chicken stock. Set aside.

Cooking instructions:
To begin the stir fry, heat a large non-stick pan, skillet or wok over high heat. When it’s hot, pour in 2 tablespoons of peanut oil. Swirl around to coat the base of the pan.

Add the chicken to the skillet in a single layer and fry quickly, stirring around for 3 minutes. When brown and just cooked through, remove it to a plate and set aside.

Add 1 tablespoon of peanut oil to the same wok. Put in the onions and cook for 2 minutes.

Then add the snow peas and cook for 2 minutes, followed by the baby corn for 2 minutes and then the red and yellow bell pepper for 2 minutes.

Add garlic and ginger. Stir around in the pan until the garlic releases its fragrance.

Add mushrooms and cook for about 45 seconds.

Pour in the 1/4 cup of plain chicken broth and the soy sauce/oyster sauce mixture. Stir.

Throw in the cooked chicken. Give everything in the pan a good shake.

Pour in the chicken broth/cornflower mixture. Stir together, then turn off heat. The sauce should be slightly thicker.

At the very end, seconds before serving, stir in some of the roughly chopped cilantro and use the rest to garnish over the top.

Serve over plain, boiled rice.

Dig in!