Pineapple Chicken

My new apartment’s kitchen actually gets natural daylight – yay! Now that it’s daylight savings time, I can get good photos of what I’m cooking for dinners. My friend FT over at TungTung House has inspired me to do more food/cooking posts. So here goes.

Specialty Stir-Fry (Serves 4)
When I get a backlog of random vegetables in my crisper drawer, I like to make stir-fry. This is my “formula” that I have perfected over the past 5 years. I eventually realized that the way to get restaurant-quality stir fry is to keep a big covered dish by the stove and cook the meat and vegetables in stages, transferring them to the dish as they reach the point of perfectly cooked. This also cuts down on excess moisture accumulating in the pan, and if there is any it gets reduced with the sauce. I like to serve this sweet-and-sour dinner with brown rice.

1. Mix the sauce:

1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. rice vinegar
1/2 – 3/4 c. fruit juice such as pineapple or orange (fresh-squeezed is best, if you do this zest the orange first and add the zest to the sauce) or if you don’t have juice, sherry.
2 T. sugar or honey
1 t. toasted sesame oil
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
2-inch chunk of fresh ginger, minced
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
1/2 t. salt or to taste
1 T. cornstarch

Once you have mixed the sauce, place it in a shallow dish and marinate your chicken or other meat, which you have cut into bite-sized pieces. Put the dish in the fridge and stir once or twice as you are prepping the veggies.

2. Prepare the vegetables

I like: broccoli or cauliflower, carrots, bell peppers and onions, mushrooms, zucchini, green beans or snow peas, asparagus, and cabbage, bok-choy or spinach. I also like to include pineapple, water chestnuts, or bamboo shoots for a special touch. Sesame seeds, cashews, almonds or peanuts get stirred in at the end. Sprinkle chopped green onions on top of each serving.

3. Cook!

I keep the bottle of oil and a teaspoon by the stove, and just add a bit more oil for each step. Start by heating a couple of teaspoons of oil in a non-stick skillet. Fish your meat out of the sauce with a slotted spoon and add it to the hot oil. When it is fully cooked, transfer it to a large bowl and cover. Cook your vegetables in stages, according to their required cooking time. Broccoli and carrots can go together, onions with peppers, etc. As you finish a batch, slide it into the covered bowl. Finally, pour the sauce into the pan and stir constantly until it is thickened and bubbly. Pour it over the cooked items in the bowl, and toss to coat. Serve over rice.