At-home stir fry for most of us means pulling some chicken breasts out of the freezer, tossing them with store-bought soy sauce, and adding a "stir fry veggie mix" also found in the freezer section. We all know that this is a pretty lackluster dish (probably why I don't make it very often!), one that we stay-at-homes prefer to eat at a restaurant rather that at our kitchen table. Enter, once again, the people at America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated.
After the 2007 season was over there was a special: buy the recipe book with all of 2007's recipes and get the DVDs of all the shows free (for those of you who don't know, ATK is a show on PBS, usually on Saturdays). This was also the summer we moved to Idaho, and for a month I was sequestered in a teeny condo with my then two boys until our house was finished. I found myself having no TV, either, so the cooking DVDs were all I had. This recipe looked so yummy on the show that once I got my own kitchen back it was one of the first that I tried. Can you say YUM!
If you're an occasional Chinese food cook, you should have Oyster Sauce in your fridge (mine was unopened in the pantry, but hey, I had a bottle!). If not, it's an easy find by the soy sauce in most grocery stores. I bought Bok Choy at Wal-Mart, so that tells you it also isn't hard to find. It looks like a bigger, greener version of Napa Cabbage. It's also a yummy, mild vegetable that even my kiddos ate. And one recommendation before you cook... double the sauce. Everyone likes a little more sauce. Serve with rice or with a noodle cake (I'll give you the noodle cake recipe if you ask!).
Stir-Fried Chicken with Bok Choy
serves 4
for the stir-fry sauce
1/4 c. chicken broth
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp dry sherry or white wine
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
chicken and vegetables
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, patted dry with paper towel and cut into 1" squares
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp white wine or sherry
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger or 1 tsp dried
1 med garlic clove, minced
8 tsp peanut oil or vegetable oil
1 sm head bok choy, stalks sliced on the bias to 1/4-inch slices, greens cut into 1/2-inch strips
1 sm red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch strips
Whisk together sauce ingredients; set aside.
Toss the chicken with the soy sauce and sherry (or white wine); set aside. In large bowl, whisk together the sesame oil, cornstarch, and flour; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together the ginger, garlic, and 1 tsp peanut oil; set aside.
Stir the marinated chicken into the sesame oil-cornstarch mixture until uniformly combines. Heat 2 tsp peanut oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until smoking. Cook, without stirring, until lightly browned. Turn chicken pieces and lightly brown on the other side. Transfer chicken to a clean bowl and cover to keep warm.
Add remaining 1 Tbsp peanut oil to the now empty skillet and return to high heat. Cook bok choy stalks and bell pepper until lightly browned. Push the vegetables to the side and add the garlic-ginger mixture until the center. Mash mixture with a spook , cook 20 seconds, and stir into the vegetables. Add bok choy greens and cook until beginning to wilt, about 30 seconds.
Return chicken to the skillet. Whisk the sauce to recombine then add to the skillet and cook, until the sauce is thickened and is heated through. Serve.
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