Garlic Chicken Stir-fry

If you've made it anywhere other than our front page, you might have noticed we have a fondness for garlic. If you haven't, consider yourself informed. I often feel bad that we're not going through multiple bulbs of it a week. But then again, I do work with live human beings, so maybe it's just as well.

I've been trying to capture the lovely garlic flavor of a Chinese take-out staple: broccoli chicken. Unlike the deep soy flavors and colors of a broccoli beef, broccoli chicken tends towards a lighter flavored sauce that really brings out the garlic tones. I'm not quite there yet, but this last attempt was too good not to share.

Ingredients

• 1-2 cloves elephant garlic (or 4-8 cloves garlic)
• 2 broccoli crowns
• 1 medium onion
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 3 chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 heaping tablepoon cream sherry
• Canola oil, for stir-frying

Directions

1. Prepare ingredients for stir-fry: mince garlic; chop broccoli or separate into florets; dice onion; cut pepper into strips. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. In a small bowl, mix 1/3 of minced garlic, corn starch, soy sauce, mirin, vinegar, and sherry. Start rice or other side.
2. Stir-fry 2/3 of the minced garlic in oil over medium-high heat briefly.
3. Add the onion, and cook two to three minutes, until it starts to soften.
4. Add broccoli, and cook three to five minutes, until it's bright green.

5. Add the red bell pepper, and cook until crisp-tender; remove everything from the wok.

6. Stir-fry the pinch of remaining garlic until fragrant, and cook the chicken until cooked through.
7. Push chicken to the side of the wok, then stir and add sauce to the middle. Cook and stir until it bubbles and thickens.
8. Return the vegetables to the wok, and stir to coat.

9. Serve over rice or other side.

He said

As with any stir-fry, it's easy to vary this one. We happened to have a spectacular bell pepper, so we included it, although more often than not I like the pure green look of only using broccoli. And of course if you prefer an alternative to chicken, go right ahead, although I'm not sure this particular sauce will match anything else quite so well. We've used pork instead of chicken with a similar sauce to good result.

You might notice the "rice" in our pictures is anything but. We had a partially used bag containing a mix of grains, beans, and quinoa that we picked up from Trader Joe's some time back. The, ah, surprisingly mild flavor of the mix goes well with stronger flavors such as those in this dish.

As a side note, if you haven't heard of the dirty dozen produce guide, I think it's worth knowing where you can reduce your exposure to pesticides most effectively. We love bell peppers, but they're one of the 12 most contaminated when grown conventionally, so we were really happy to find organic ones on sale this week.

She said

With a recipe as great as this one, I'm not sure I'll ever want to settle for Chinese take-out after eating this. Once all of the veggies and chicken were chopped, the cooking steps went very fast. And the flavor of the sauce in this dish is outstanding. This meal was so good that we could have easily finished the whole wok full of chicken and veggies in one sitting, but luckily we saved enough leftovers for a weekday lunch.