Stir Fry Chicken: Flashy, worthwhile food

Stir fried chicken is a lot of fun to make. By which, I mean, it’s exciting and the results are tasty. It’s even easy, if you do all the preparation ahead of time. And, it involves working with a wok and very high heat, which is fun and exciting. You could do it in any large pot, too. It’s well worth trying, as it’s a delicious and unique flavor.

For the record, this recipe doesn’t just work with chicken. I’ve done it with pork, and I’ve done it with shrimp. I think it works best with chicken, but it’s by no means the only way to use it. Also, being stir fry, it’s a flexible recipe, so experimentation with throwing in other vegetables can and has worked out, both when I’ve done it myself and when my mother did it.

Anyway, in regards to technique, I’ve been doing this one for a year, and I nearly nailed this one this time. Back in the red shrimp recipe, I mentioned that I ignored cooking the ketchup with the garlic and ginger. I tried it here, it rocked, I will do it every time now. Oh, and for the curious, this is the brand of Hoisin sauce I use:

But any you find at an Asian market will probably do. Still, this stuff is fantastic, I definitely recommend picking up a jar… it’s been best described as sort of similar to barbecue sauce, which I can agree with – it’s a bit sweet and I tend to like it even straight, for both.

Ingredients

1 lb chicken, cubed (though you can definitely scale this up, this is ~ enough for 2-3)

2 tablespoons cooking wine

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 cup scallions, chopped (I used an onion here, works as well)

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons grated ginger

4 tablespoons hoisin sauce

Instructions

First, chop the meat into bite sized chunks, and get it marinating in the soy sauce and cooking wine in a sizable mixing bowl.

Next, chop the scallions/onion, and add 2/3 of them to the chicken. Then, chop the garlic, and grate the ginger. This completes the preparatory work for the dish.

When you’re ready to start cooking, heat up the wok (or large pot) on the highest heat, with a thin coating of vegetable oil on the bottom. When it is good and hot, add the chicken, and then quickly rinse the bowl, as it will be used again. Stir the chicken with a metal spoon, being careful not to burn it.

When all the chicken has turned color and is opaque (cooked through, takes about 4-5 minutes), then remove it from the wok into the rinsed mixing bowl, and lower the heat to medium high. Then, add the hoisin sauce to the pan, along with the garlic, ginger, and remaining onion.

Cook the sauce for about a minute, no more, carefully stirring to make sure nothing burns. Then, add back in the chicken, stir everything together, and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

When this is complete, pour it into a serving bowl, and immediately clean the wok. Then, enjoy over rice – the sauce is the best part.