I learned a new technique with this recipe adapted from Inspired Taste--velveting chicken. It's how Chinese restaurants keep their meat so tender in a stir fry. Marinating the chicken in a mixture with cornstarch coats the chicken giving it a velvety texture. When plunged into boiling water briefly, the cornstarch coating hardens and seals in the meat's juices.
I decided to give it a try with this chicken and broccoli stir fry recipe. Did it make a difference? I thought so. The chicken came out wonderfully tender. As usual, I made a few changes to accommodate what I didn't have on hand.
I found the sauce needed more cornstarch to thicken (about two more tablespoons.) It also made quite a lot--I could have saved some of it for another stir fry.
Chicken and Broccoli
1 pound broccoli florets, cut into small pieces, 5 to 6 cups
1
¼ pounds boneless and skinless chicken breast or thighs, sliced against the grain
into thin strips (I used breast meat)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
3 tablespoons neutral oil like vegetable or avocado oil
Stir Fry Sauce
6 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger (or one tablespoon ginger paste)
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine, substitute dry sherry or mirin. (I subbed seasoned rice wine vinegar)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons sugar (I used Splenda)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
Marinate chicken
Slice chicken against the grain into thin strips. It helps if the chicken is slightly frozen.
Place in a bowl and add 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon
Oil and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Mix well.
Let chicken marinate for approximately 30 minutes.
Break broccoli into bite-sized florets.
Stir Fry Sauce
Combine all the stir fry ingredients in a small pan and cook
over medium heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Set aside.
Cook Broccoli
Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add broccoli florets and cook until they are crisp-tender. This should take approximately 3 minutes.
Remove broccoli from water and drain. Save water.
How to Velvet Chicken
Raise the heat and allow the water to come to a boil again.
Add one teaspoon of oil and bring to a boil again. Add chicken and stir to avoid sticking.
Cook 30 to 40 seconds or until opaque on the outside but raw on the inside. Remove from boiling water and drain thoroughly. Place on a plate lined with paper towels and set aside.
Cooking Stir Fry
Heat a large skillet (or a wok if you have one) over high heat.
While skillet heats, stir one tablespoon of cornstarch with three tablespoons of cold water. Mix and set aside.
Add two tablespoons of oil to skillet and when oil is shimmering, add the broccoli and chicken. Stir and cook approximately one minute then add stir fry sauce.
Stir corn starch mixture (it will have settled) and then slowly pour it into the skillet. Stir until the sauce thickens and coats the chicken and broccoli. Serve over rice if desired.
Cranberry Cove #7 is finally here!
Monica's stepmother wakes up next to a dead man! Did she do it?
An unscrupulous realtor pays the ultimate closing costs in the new Cranberry Cove Mystery from USA Today bestselling author Peg Cochran!
Autumn
is settling in on Cranberry Cove, but things are starting to heat up
when Monica’s stepmother shows up at her back door gripped by panic.
Gasping out an explanation, she tells Monica she’d been dozing in her
realtor’s car when he was shot dead. Refusing to alert the police for
fear that the killer will target her next—or that the police will
consider her their prime suspect—Monica’s stepmother goes mute, and
Monica decides to track down the culprit herself to clear her name and
keep her safe.
Finding the killer won’t be so easy, though, as
the victim had run afoul of buyers, sellers, and even other realtors at
one time or another, and it seems that nearly everyone in the small town
had a reason to want him dead. Even more puzzling is that the deeper
Monica digs into the background and final days of the victim, the more
the clues point to her stepmother. Then a second body is found, and
Monica realizes she’s going up against a devious killer who will stop at
nothing to put everyone involved out of commission . . .
