Chicken Stir-Fry

I think I'll try posting a recipe on Tuesdays and everything else whenever I feel like it. That should help me be more regular with this blog and also help those who read it to be able to follow along.

***Quick note: While I was studying spices, I learned that this dish also closely resembles a buryani (rice dish native to the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia). I'm going to have to experiment some more...***

I must have been only 13 or so when I learned how to make this dish. My youngest brothers had food allergies (corn, soy, wheat, and milk) and most days it was easier to cook one meal that everybody could eat than to try to get two toddlers to only eat what wouldn't make them sick. In order to help my mom, I started making dinner. There's only so many meals you can make that use either rice or potatoes - and this quickly became a favorite because it was fast, relatively cheap, and didn't make very many dishes.

Lemon Chicken Stir-Fry
frying pan
wooden spoon or heavy duty spatula
pot to cook rice or noodles in
***
2 cups chicken (2 breasts or 5-6 tenderloins)
1 bag frozen vegetables or fresh vegetables cut into bite-size pieces
butter or oil
***
2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
2-3 tsp. brown sugar
1/2 cup chicken broth or water or orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbsp. vinegar or vinaigrette salad dressing
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
***
1. Choose either rice or noodles as your grain and start them cooking. If you're doing noodles, it will help to have someone else around to stir the stir-fry while you drain the noodles. Follow the package directions or
1. Pour 1 Tbsp of oil into the frying pan and tilt the pan around until it completely covers the bottom. Or, you could melt 2 Tbsp. butter in the pan (but it tends to burn, unlike the oil, so you have to watch the stir-fry more carefully if you use butter). 2. On medium heat, cook the chicken until it is white on the outside (you will have to flip it), but still pink in the middle. Move it to a cutting board and cut it into bite-size pieces and then wash your hands.
3. I like to mix my sauce while the chicken is cooking. In a small liquid measuring cup, mix the spices. It really doesn't matter what spices you use, this was my favorite dish for experimenting with different mixtures of spices. So long as you have something sweet (sugar or honey or juice), something acid (lemon juice, vinegar), and soy sauce- your meal will resemble a stir fry. Use your nose to tell you what goes together (although you might want to add the vinegar last as it tends to cover up all the other flavors until after the food is cooked). You could also just add the spices to the stir-fry, although then you usually end up with pockets of just one kind of spice. I like to mix all the dry spices together and then add the liquid spices.
4. Pour the sauce into the pan and stir it around with the oil already in the pan. Then add the chicken, stir it to coat and cook the chicken for 5 minutes, stirring every minute or so to make sure the sauce doesn't burn.
5. Turn the heat up to high and add the vegetables. Stir it around, there will be lots of steam as the ice melts. If you used fresh vegetables, add up to 1/2 cup of water to the pan. Cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes, stirring every 30-60 seconds.
6. Cover the stir fry and turn off the heat. Finish setting the table, invite everyone to dinner, and say prayer. After that, dish up a pile of noodles or rice and top it with the stir-fry.

So forget the mac and cheese or the ramen and make your family some tasty, vegetabley goodness. Their tastebuds and their waistlines will smile.