Here is an easy chicken stir fry recipe for you to take home today, my dear friends especially if you want a kick to your taste buds. đ
My friend has talked me into trying her favourite sambal oelek brand found in an Asian grocery store in Springvale (you know who you are haha!). Yes, besides talking about men, shoes and handbags, we talked about condiments from time to time. *wink* It has been a while since I used sambal oelek in my cooking and truth to be told, I could not spot the difference between this one and the one that I usually get from the chained supermarket.
Whenever I add ginger to sambal oelek, the aroma reminds me of the super addictive chilli sauce that goes with Hainanese chicken rice. To mellow the spiciness of the chilli, maple syrup (or brown sugar), Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) and white vinegar are added which brings a sweet, sour and spicy sensation to dish. The savoury element of the dish comes in the form of fish sauce which really makes the dish too. But you got to be a bona fide fish sauce lover to appreciate it.
Whenever I add fish sauce to a dish, I feel the need to garnish with aromatic herbs such as basil and coriander and LOTS OF IT!! In this dish, I feel the coriander is more complimentary.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/3 cup sambal oelek (less if you like it milder)
- 1/8 cup fish sauce + extra to taste towards the end of cooking time
- 2 tsps grated ginger
- Cooking oil
- 500g chicken breasts, cut into strips
- 200g sugar snap peas
- 2 tbsps Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
- A generous handful of fresh coriander
- 1/2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds for garnish optional
Instructions
- Mix maple syrup, white vinegar, sambal oelek, 1/8 cup fish sauce and ginger in a bowl. Whisk until well mixed with a fork.
- Marinate the chicken with half of the sauce above. Set aside.
- Add a teaspoon of oil in a non-stick pan. When the oil is hot add chicken (be careful of the oil splatter!). Brown the chicken until cooked through and set aside on a plate.
- Pour the remaining sauce into the pan. Cook over high heat until the sauce has slightly thickened (about a minute or so).
- Return the chicken to the pan and add sugar snap peas and the Indonesian sweet soy sauce. Cook until the sugar snap peas have soften slightly. Check for taste, add more fish sauce if you like.
- Turn off the heat, stir in fresh coriander. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately with rice.
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when the chicken is marinated in the sauce, should the “marinate sauce” also go into the pan when browning the chicken or only the chicken ?