We had a lot of chicken left over after I made roast chicken Friday for just the two of us. Even after making chicken salad for lunch, I still had leftover cooked chicken. A stir fry for supper was the ideal way to use it up.
I don’t usually follow a recipe when I make a stir fry. I wing it, following a few basic principles. I use a lot of veggies, but the exact mixture depends on what I have on hand or what’s available inexpensively at the store. I like to use garlic and ginger for flavor. For a sauce, I concoct something from soy sauce, honey or sherry, and chicken or vegetable stock, thickened with a little cornstarch. If I want a little heat, I mix in some chili paste (available in the Asian section of the grocery store or Asian food stores.) Sometimes I just use a bottled sauce like Soy Vay or Trader Joe’s Soyaki.
If you want to make a vegetarian stir fry, use cubed firm tofu instead of chicken — or just use an additional 2 cups of vegetables.
Sometimes I use a little sesame oil in place of some of the vegetable oil. (Sometimes I don’t, because I forget I have sesame oil available before Iput the vegetable oil in the wok!) You don’t want to use all sesame oil because it’s very strongly flavored and also very expensive, compared to plain old cooking oil.
The essence of stir frying is to use just a little bit of oil. Make it very hot before you add the other ingredients, and cook them quickly over high heat, constantly stirring as the ingredients cook. Vegetables should retain their crunch.
I know this is all very vague, so I wrote down what I did last night, because it was yummy. You can easily substitute other vegetables, including broccoli (cut it into small flowerets and blanch in boiling water for about a minute before stir frying), sliced bok choy, julienned carrots, julienned zucchini, asparagus broken into 1-inch pieces, sliced or diced water chestnuts, or bean sprouts. Use about 3 cups vegetables total for two servings, and about 2 cups of cooked chicken (or thinly sliced rare beef).
Ingredients:
3 Tbs. soy sauce
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. bottled ginger (or use fresh grated)
1 tsp. honey
½ tsp. chili paste with garlic
½ cup vegetable or chicken stock
2 Tbs. vegetable or peanut oil
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
½ cup thickly sliced mushrooms
¼ cup diced red pepper
1 cup snow peas, strings removed
½ cup bamboo shoots
2 scallions, sliced
2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
Directions:
Mix the soy sauce and cornstarch until smooth. Add the ginger, honey, chili paste and vegetable or chicken stock and set aside. Heat the oil in a wok or a large, heavy skillet. Fry the garlic for a few seconds, then add the mushrooms and red pepper and stir fry. When they start to soften, after a minute or two, add the snow peas and bamboo shoots and stir fry for a another minute or two until the peas are tender. Add the scallions and stir fry for another 30 seconds. Add the sauce, and stir constantly until all the vegetables are coated and the sauce thickens a bit. Finally, add the chicken and stir to coat it with the sauce and mix it with the vegetables. Cook just another minute or so until the chicken is hot. Serve over rice.
Serves 2
Bobbie's Best Recipes 
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