Guest Post: Chris’ Stir Fry Recipe

Tonight I made one of the few recipes in my extremely limited repertoire that involves more than dumping some cans into a pot and letting them simmer for half an hour. (Though chili made in that fashion is mighty tasty.) The recipe is my modification of the Thai Chicken Curry recipe found on the page of the Dinner Co-op of Carnegie Mellon’s CS department. I’ve scaled up the recipe to match the packs of three chicken breasts that sell at the local Price Chopper, and added some small things along the way. The dish is odd in that it’s both creamy and spicy, but I like it a lot. The peanuts add a crunch, sort of like a poor man’s water chestnuts.

Ingredients:

• For white sauce:
  • 3 Tbsp butter
  • 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
  • Dash salt
  • Dash pepper
  • 1½ c milk
• For stir fry:
  • 2 c broccoli florets
  • 1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced into ¼-inch pieces
  • 1 medium-size red bell pepper, sliced long-ways into ¼-inch strips and then in half
  • 3 Tbsp sugar
  • 3 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 4 or 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp ginger powder (use some fresh ginger if it’s handy)
  • 1 heaping Tbsp red chili paste (Priya brand is great if you can find it) or curry paste
  • 3 Tbsp cooking oil (I used canola)
  • ¼ c roasted peanuts

Directions:

1. Blanch the broccoli. Boil some water in a saucepan. Add the florets to the boiling water and let boil for one minute. Drain the water and set the broccoli aside.
2. Make the white sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan on low heat. Once it’s melted, add the flour and whisk it all together before the flour has a chance to cook. Add salt and pepper. Add milk and whisk it together. Raise the heat to medium and cook, stirring every minute or so, until thick enough for the sauce to drip onto the surface and leave bumps. Turn off the heat and set aside.
3. Stir fry, woo! Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium heat. Add the chili/curry paste, break it apart in the oil with your spatula, and let it cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Add the sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger (I always combine these four beforehand). Add the chicken and stir-fry for about thirty seconds. Add the red bell pepper and stir everything together. Stir-fry for six minutes, or until the chicken looks done. Add the white sauce, broccoli, and peanuts; mix the whole lot together and heat through.

Serve with jasmine rice. Serves four or five.

Guest author Chris Willmore’s other pursuits may be found online at www.treedub.org