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Chicken & Bean Sprouts

Chicken & Bean Sprouts

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Yield: 2 Servings

Woks of Life

Chicken and Bean Sprouts is a classic Chinese stir-fry dish and is a refreshing, and easy-to-make stir fry made with chicken breast and crunchy bean sprouts.

Chicken marinade:

  • 8oz chicken thighs (or chicken breast, cut into thin strips)
  • 1TBS water
  • 1tsp vegetable oil
  • ½tsp soy sauce
  • 1tsp cornstarch

Rest of the dish:

  • 1lb fresh mung bean sprouts
  • 4scallions (cut in half lengthwise, and then into 2-inch pieces, white and green parts separated)
  • 2cloves garlic (minced)
  • 5shiitake mushrooms (fresh or dried/reconstituted, sliced)
  • 3TBS vegetable oil (divided)
  • 2tsp Shaoxing wine
  • 2tsp oyster sauce
  • ¾tsp salt
  • ¼tsp sesame oil
  • ⅛tsp ground white pepper
  • ¼tsp MSG (optional, really gives that extra restaurant flavor)
  • 1tsp cornstarch (dissolved in 2 tsp water)


For the chicken:

Mix 1 TBS of water with the strips of chicken until the water has been completely absorbed by the meat. Add the oil, soy sauce, and cornstarch, and mix until well combined. Set aside for 20 minutes.

For the mung bean sprouts:

Next, wash the mung bean sprouts in a large bowl of cold water, leaving the bean sprouts in the water for two to three minutes so they are rehydrated. This step not only washes the sprouts but also allows them to absorb some of that cold water to regain their freshness and crunch. Transfer them to a colander, setting them over a bowl or the sink to let the excess water drain completely. The root portion of the bean sprout can be a bit stringy and unpleasant, and some folks do pinch it off–but a word of caution that it is a lot of work, so we usually settle for a good couple of rinses in cold water.

For the other vegetables:

Finally, prepare the other ingredients–namely the scallions, garlic, and mushrooms. Cooking this dish quickly is important, so your bean sprouts don’t turn to mush. If you’re not great at adding quick measurements of spices, oils, and sauces, it’s best if you have all those ingredients prepped and measured in advance, in addition to the fresh ingredients.

Stir Fry:

Heat your wok on high heat until it just starts to smoke and spread 2 TBS of oil around the perimeter of the wok. Add the chicken and use your spatula to spread the meat evenly across the wok. Sear for another 20 seconds (i.e., without mixing the chicken around), stir fry for another 20 seconds, and transfer the chicken to a bowl.

Add another TBS of oil to the wok, along with the mushrooms and the white portions of the scallions. Stir fry for 10 seconds and add the garlic. You should have the wok at the highest heat you can muster at this point!

Next, add the mung bean sprouts and stir fry everything together. Spread the Shaoxing wine around the perimeter of the wok and give everything another quick stir. Then add the oyster sauce, salt, sesame oil, white pepper, and MSG, if using.

Add the chicken back to the wok, along with any liquid in the bowl, and the green portions of the scallions. Again, the burner should be at maximum heat at this point!

Stir-fry for another 10 seconds until everything is well combined, making sure to spread the mixture around the sides of the wok to get that Wok Hei sear and flavor. There will be some liquid in the wok and when that is bubbling, stir in the cornstarch and water mixture.

Stir fry for another 15 seconds or so, until the mung bean sprouts are just starting to turn transparent. Serve!

Chicken Chop Suey 😐

Chicken Chop Suey 😐

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Yield: 4 Servings

TheWoksOfLife

Chop Suey (杂碎, zásuì in Mandarin) refers to “odds and ends” or miscellaneous leftovers. It’s a dish combining all those odds and ends into a stir-fry of meat and vegetables, coated in a tasty sauce.
Notes: Sadly, not thrilled with this. Gayle thought it has a funky taste, probably from the Sesame Oil.

For the chicken & marinade:

  • 12oz boneless skinless chicken breast (sliced into ¼” thick slices)
  • 3TBS water
  • 1TBS oyster sauce
  • 1tsp Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
  • 1tsp vegetable oil
  • 2tsp cornstarch

For the sauce:

  • ½cup chicken stock
  • ¼tsp granulated sugar (or brown sugar)
  • 1½TBS soy sauce
  • 1tsp dark soy sauce
  • 1½TBS oyster sauce
  • ½tsp toasted sesame oil
  • ⅛tsp white pepper

For the rest of the dish:

  • 3TBS vegetable oil
  • 2cloves garlic (chopped)
  • 4mushrooms (white button or baby bella mushrooms, sliced)
  • ½small carrot (thinly sliced)
  • ⅔cup celery (thinly sliced)
  • 6oz bok choy, cut into ¾” x 2” pieces, (I usually skip this)
  • 1TBS Shaoxing wine
  • ¾cup mung bean sprouts (3 oz)
  • 1cup snow peas (3 oz)
  • 1½TBS corn starch (mixed with 2 TBS water)


Marinate chicken:

Combine the sliced chicken with water, oyster sauce, and Shaoxing wine. Massage the chicken until it absorbs all the liquid. Next, mix in 1 tsp oil and 2 tsp cornstarch until the chicken is uniformly coated. Set it aside.

Premix sauce:

In a small bowl, mix all the sauce ingredients, and set aside.

Stir fry chicken:

Heat your wok over high heat until lightly smoking and pour 2 TBS vegetable oil around the perimeter. Spread the chicken in a single layer.

Sear for a few seconds, and then stir-fry the chicken for another 15 seconds, or until it is lightly golden-brown and opaque. Remove the chicken from the wok and set aside. (It should be about 80% cooked at this point.)

Turn heat back up to high and add an additional TBS of oil along with the chopped garlic. Once the garlic starts to sizzle, add in the mushrooms, carrots, and celery. Stir fry for 20 seconds and add the bok choy. Give everything a good stir and spread the Shaoxing wine around the perimeter of the wok to deglaze it.

Make sauce:

Next, stir up your premixed chop suey sauce and spread that around the perimeter to further deglaze the wok. Use your wok spatula to give everything a quick stir.

Once the sauce begins to simmer, add in your bean sprouts, and snow peas. Also add the chicken back to the wok.

When the sauce gets to a strong simmer or boil, mix up your cornstarch slurry. Drizzle it into the sauce, stirring constantly, until it thickens to a consistency you like. Add more cornstarch slurry mix if you like the sauce thicker. Cook for another 10 seconds to ensure everything is coated with the sauce.

Serve immediately with steamed rice!

Chow Mein

Chow Mein

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New England Style

Yield: 4 servings
Adapted from Tom Lin and David Rosengarten

13-Jun-15: It took quite a search to come up with this recipe. This is chow mein the way I remember it from New England. Colorado and Southern California don’t often offer it this way. Here it almost always has soft noodles cooked into it.  Mein, meaning noodle, is probably a good indication of this being more traditional.  My better version uses hard noodles, a cracker like, stick chow mein noodle from the supermarket.  I think these are the same noodle, but deep fried.  You’re more likely to get strips of fried wonton skins if you order Chow Mein in SoCal restaurants.  Soy sauce is also not included, which makes this a white sauce.

Mise, Mise, Mise, get your mise together! This means me! This happens so fast, that you must get everything prepped and measured before cooking starts.

Chicken & Marinade

  • ½lb boneless, skinless chicken meat, cut into pieces about ½″ wide
  • 1pinch salt
  • 2pinches white pepper
  • 2tsp sesame seed oil
  • 1egg white
  • 2TBS corn starch
  • 1TBS cooking oil

Vegetables

  • 1-2TBS cooking oil
  • 1tsp minced garlic
  • 1tsp minced shallot
  • 1tsp Shaoxing cooking wine
  • 2cups celery thinly sliced on the diagonal (about ⅛″ thick)
  • 2cups thinly sliced onions (about ⅛″ thick)
  • 1tsp sugar
  • 2firmly packed cups shredded Napa cabbage (about ½ of cabbage) (pieces about ½″ wide)
  • 1½cups fresh mung bean sprouts

Sauce

  • ¾tsp salt
  • black pepper
  • 1tsp sesame oil
  • 1cup chicken stock

Slurry

  • 1TBS (approximate) cornstarch
  • 2TBS water

Serve

  • 1cup chow mein noodles (crispy room-temperature ones) or fried wonton skin strips


Marinate chicken:
In a bowl, add the chicken, a pinch of salt, a pinch of white pepper, 1 tsp sesame oil, egg white and mix to coat. Add cornstarch and mix. Add 1 TBS of cooking oil and mix.

Slurry:
Mix 1 TBS corn starch with 2 TBS water and set aside.

Stir Fry:
Place a very large wok over high heat, and let it sit for a minute. Add 1 to 2 TBS cooking oil, spilling it around the sides of the wok. Heat until it’s smoking,

Add, garlic and shallot, stir fry 30 seconds.

Toss in the celery and the onions. Sprinkle ½ tsp of the sugar and Shaoxing cooking wine over them and stir well. Stir-fry for 2 minutes, then push the celery-onion mixture to the side of the wok, leaving the center empty.

If the wok is dry, add a little more cooking oil. Add the chicken to the center of the wok and stir-fry until the chicken browns slightly and loses its pink color (about 2-3 minutes). Toss with celery and onions, bringing the mass into the center of the wok.

Add the Napa cabbage and bean sprouts to the wok, tossing with the other ingredients already in the wok. Add the remaining ½ tsp of sugar and toss again. Turn heat down to medium-high, and let mixture cook for 5 minutes; the vegetables should start losing their distinctness and merge together.

Add the stock and sesame oil and toss. When the stock is boiling, add most of the slurry to the wok, stirring immediately. If you’d like the chow mein to be a little thicker, add more slurry. Remove chow mein from heat. Serve