This is my teeny tiny twist to my favourite dish from Chinese takeaway – the ginger & spring onion (scallion) chicken stir fry, which I have substituted the spring onions with a leek.
This batch of stir fry was a generous one in terms of portion size. This came about when there were discounted chicken tenderloins for about $8+ per kilo at Harris Farm Markets. Forgetting the fact that it was just two people in the Fuss Free Cooking household as well as I will be traveling to Melbourne in two days, I brought 1.5kg home! I used 500g for chicken biryani and the rest for this to make this speedy chicken stir fry, a couple hours before boarding the flight.
I know any practical and smart home cooks out there would have advised me to freeze the unused chicken tenderloins. But I will let you in on a little secret, I normally buy meat as I needed and don’t like to use frozen meat, if I can help it. I guess I have a pet peeve of seeing defrosted meat. I guess I am ready for your strange stares at me now ha!
With the amount food I in the fridge at the moment, let’s just say my beloved won’t be missing me because I left him enough food to feed an entire footy team!
I am also loving a smaller sized 1-cup Campbell’s Stock. A perfect size for making gravy and stir fry sauces without having an awkward amount of unused stock – (Not sponsored)
Ingredients
- 1kg chicken tenderloins (or breasts or thigh fillets), cut into strips
- 2 Tbsps light soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp Indonesian sweet soy sauce/Kecap Manis (see here for homemade version)
- ½ Tbsp sesame oil
- Generous amount of ground white pepper
- ½ Tbsp cornstarch
- Cooking oil
- 40g ginger, peeled & cut into fine matchsticks
- 1 leek, thinly sliced
- 2 baby carrots, peeled & cut into matchsticks
- 1 cup chicken/vegetable stock
- 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
- Ground white pepper
- A couple of drops of sesame oil
- ½ tbsp cornstarch
- ¼ cup water
- Soy sauce to taste (see note)
- Indonesian sweet soy sauce to taste (see note)
Instructions
- Combine chicken, soy sauce, Indonesian sweet sauce, ground white pepper and sesame oil in a glass or ceramic bowl. Toss to combine. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 30 minutes or, if time permits.
- In the meantime, prep the ginger, leek and carrots. Mix all the sauce ingredients in a measuring jug and set aside.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat with some cooking oil. Brown the chicken, in batches, until cooked through and become golden brown (I did mine over two batches). Set the chicken aside on a plate.
- Add a little cooking oil onto the same pan, sauté the ginger until it begins to soften and aromatic. Add carrots and the green part of the leek and sauté for a couple of seconds, followed by the white part of the leek. Add about 2 Tbsps of water to help with softening the vegetables.
- Once the vegetables are softened, transfer to a plate (you can use the same plate as the chicken).
- To make the sauce, add the sauce mixture into the same pan. Cook on medium-high heat until the sauce is bubbling and thickened. Check for taste. Add more soy sauce/sweet soy sauce if required.
- Return the chicken and vegetables to the pan. Toss to mix with the sauce. Once the sauce is bubbling and you’re satisfied the chicken is cooked, the dish is now ready to serve with rice.
Notes
As the salt content in homemade/store bought stock can vary, I add about two teaspoons each for the light soy sauce and sweet soy sauce for a start. When I cooked the sauce mixture to my desired consistency, I checked for taste and added more light & sweet soy sauce to taste.
P/S: Speaking of smart and practical home cooks, are you guys ready for the season 6 MasterChef Australia premiering today? You can catch a sneak peek here.
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