The City That Feeds

Stir fry rules. It’s fast, pretty easy to pull off with a tiny amount of practice, and given the right sauce/marinade is some of the most flavorful stuff around. This particular stir fry is a “dry” stir fry in that it doesn’t have an actual sauce – the flavor comes primarily from tossing the meat in a spice medley prior to cooking, which imparts into the veggies as you toss them while cooking. In fact, if you don’t care about the vegetable portion of the dish itself you can just cook the chicken by itself and go to town. Very curry-esque and D-ricious. Additionally, the veggies I have listed in the recipe are all totally optional; most stir fry standbys like water chestnut, broccoli and white onions can be substituted, it’s entirely up to your taste. I went this route with the recipe due to the crunch factor (except mushrooms) of the ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. boneless chicken breasts
• 1 bunch green onion
• 4 celery stalks
• 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper
• 6 oz snap peas
• (optional – portabello mushrooms, 1 jalapeno)
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp honey
• Sunflower oil or Chile oil for frying

The Chicken

1. Mix together the turmeric, ginger, salt, pepper, cumin, coriander and sugar in a bowl until well combined.
2. Cut the chicken into small strips or chunks and toss them in the spice mix until thoroughly coated.
3. On medium high heat, brown the chicken with 1 tbsp or so your oil of choice for several minutes. Actually, due to the coriander and cumin the chicken will take on a deep yellow color, just so you know. You can eat the chicken with saffron rice at this point and it’s a meal in and of itself. But if you want to continue, set the chicken aside.

The Rest

1. Cut all veggies to prep them for frying; cut the celery, onion and peppers into strips, slice the mushrooms and de-tail the snap peas.
2. Add some more oil to the pan from previously cooking the chicken and toss in the veggies. Stir vigorously for several minutes, until the snap peas are just barely tender. The point is to not overcook the veggies into a mush – the snap peas, being the most firm, are the indicator for “readiness.”
3. Return the chicken to the pan and add the lime juice and honey. Toss all ingredients until the juice and honey are mixed in – about two minutes. Serve PIPING HOT DAMMIT! (with lots of rice)

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Sweet n’ Smoky n’ Spicy Chicken
2. Thai Shrimp Soup
3. Manhattan Clam Chowder
4. Cookin’ with Coolio (?)