Chef Mik's Saucy Stir Fry

Asian style stir fry’s taste great and are easy to make. There are several ways to go about preparing them as well. For example it’s very common to start by sautéing garlic and ginger in oil then add onions, peppers, other vegetables, meat of some sort or seafood and finish with just enough sauce to coat. Another method is by sautéing the vegetables together with or without meat or seafood then adding a ready made sauce sometimes including a thickener sometimes finishing the sauce with a thickener if need be.

One thing I like to do when I am working in the kitchen is save what ever trim I have left over while preparing meats from other dishes and use them for a good stir fry. I also typically save vegetables that would be good in a sauté or stir fry and set them aside to have on hand if I have to prepare something on the fly and time is a factor. For the home cook though it might take up to much space in the fridge so I suggest either preparing your own mix and freezing it or simply buying a prepared mix at your local grocers. One other thing I love doing is preparing my broths, stocks, demi glace, glace from scratch and that goes for my Asian style broth as well to that end I save whatever mushroom stems and scraps from most mushrooms including shitake and steep them in a light poultry broth flavored with a little ginger. You can also dehydrate your mushrooms and grind them down to a powder and add that to your broth if you like and have a little extra time on your hands. For today’s recipe though however any prepared broth will do fine as your base. From this prepared stock I will add flavorings which can be done ahead of time so that it is ready to use when you need it, I sauté my vegetables along with my meat add my prepared sauce let that cook through and finish simply with a touch of sesame oil and a thickener comprised of corn starch and water or broth

Shopping List

Chicken

Shitake mushrooms

Bell peppers

Onions

Stir fry vegetable mix, homemade or store bought is fine

Broth

Semi dry sherry

Oyster sauce

Soy sauce

Mushroom soy sauce

Sesame oil

Ginger

Garlic

Sambal oelek

Peanut, canola or olive oil

My Mad Method

Dice chicken into equal pieces marinate in soy sauce, a touch of sherry, ginger and garlic to taste

Slice one bell pepper into thin strips

Slice 100g shitake mushrooms

Cut 1 yellow onion or sweet onion into thin strips

Combine 6dl broth, 1 dl oyster sauce, 2 tsp each: minced garlic, ginger and sambal oelek, 1 TBSP sherry, to taste: soy sauce and mushroom soy sauce

Brown chicken in 1 TBSP oil set aside

Sauté onions and peppers in oil until onions are translucent add mushrooms and sauté 2 or 3 minutes longer

Add the chicken back to the pan and heat through

Add sauce and stir fry vegetable mix bring to boil, reduce temperature and cook on medium heat until chicken is cook through and sauce is reduced by a couple cm’s

Off the heat add thickener (1 dl broth and one heaping TBSP corn starch) and sesame oil to taste return to stove bring to boil adjust seasoning

Serve on its own, with rice or Asian noodles...

Ready to eat!!