Good eats with rice!

I love cooking with chicken thighs mainly because they are so forgiving. You gotta do a lot to overcook them, and while I can bake and roast, sometimes my pan-frying or stir-frying doesn’t always turn out. So, after a lot of trying, I think I have it down now. I made this for dinner, and my kids loved that there was plenty of gravy to spoon over their rice.

I also want to share my must-have-ingredients for Asian recipes. They’re great for making Chinese stir-fry sauces (or gravy): Black bean garlic sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and cornstarch. Sesame oil is a great addition, too. These are always in my pantry, and you can find them at many local groceries now. Otherwise, you may need to venture into your closest Asian supermarket.

I forgot to add sesame oil, but these are great ingredients to have on stand-by.

Ingredients:
1 large red pepper, cut into strips
1 medium-large broccoli crown, cut and separate florets
2 cloves of garlic, minced
(Optional: ½-1 medium onion, sliced)
5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (approximately 1 lb.), cut into cubes
Cornstarch to coat chicken (approximately 3 tbsp.)
3 tbsp. vegetable oil, (reserve a few extra teaspoons of oil)
1 tsp. Kosher salt
½ tsp. freshly ground pepper (approximately)
1 tsp. oyster sauce
1 tsp. black bean garlic sauce
¼ cup soy sauce
½ – ¾ cup water (Additional 1 cup of water, reserve on the side)
Optional: 1 tsp. sesame oil

White rice, prepared according to instructions (jasmine, basmati, short grain-sticky)

Directions:
Prepare all your vegetables: rinse, cut, set aside. Also prepare and cut chicken; after placing in a container, sprinkle cornstarch onto chicken and mix to coat.

In a wok, or large skillet (both with lid), heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Swirl around the wok and make sure it’s coated. When hot, drop all the chicken into your wok/skillet. Using a heat-proof utensil, mix the chicken around until it’s lightly browned on all sides (basically searing the chicken). Sprinkle salt and pepper on the chicken and stir around until coated.

You might need to turn your heat down… I turned down to medium. At this point, lid your wok. Let it cook/steam for about four minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare your sauce. Mix the oyster sauce, black bean garlic sauce, soy sauce and water in a glass measuring cup (or bowl). Stir well until all ingredients are combined, and set aside. Go check on the chicken now…

Chicken should be nicely browned, go ahead and stir. If it’s not browned to your liking, lid again for another three to four minutes. And don’t worry about bits stuck on your pan – cornstarch will make bits, blobs. You’ll deglaze later, I promise. Turn up the heat to med-high. Add all your vegetables. And stir, flip around until well mixed with the chicken. Scrape sides of wok/skillet as you work the vegetables and the chicken lets out some liquid.

When vegetables are slightly browned, and tender, add your sauce. Stir around really well, coating all the ingredients and scraping the sides and bottom of your wok/skillet. At this point, you may not have a lot of gravy, and it may look thick. This is where you add the reserved water to your liking. I recommend adding ¼ cup at a time, and stirring around after you add. When sauce thickens, and all ingredients are coated, take wok/skillet off the heat.

If you like sesame oil, add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon and mix in before serving. Serve over rice.

My kids gobble up chicken stir-fry, and you can use pretty much any veggie you have.