Chicken Stir Fry

The men in the family requested chicken stir fry for dinner a few days ago. When ever I think of Chicken Stir Fry I think of cooking with my roommates during my college years at Merrimack.  Chicken Stir Fry is  an affordable meal that can easily be stretched to feed a small army of people. It was a meal we prepared at least once per week for everyone in our apartment building!

Chicken Stir Fry

Rice Ingredients

3 cups water

3 tablespoon salted butter

3 cups white rice (brown rice may be substituted and cooked to your liking)

Chicken Stir Fry Ingredients

8-10 chicken tenders

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 heaping tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup warm water

6 tablespoons chili oil

3 tablespoons pure sesame oil

1 red pepper; cut into bite-size pieces

1 orange pepper; cut into bite-size pieces

6 scallions; White parts diced; green parts reserve

2 cloves garlic; thinly sliced

1/2  teaspoon freshly ground pepper

3 cups fresh snow peas

1 large can pineapple  rings with juices; cut into pieces

Sauce Ingredients

3 tablespoons fish sauce

2 heaping tablespoons ketchup

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon chili paste

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

3 heaping tablespoons dark brown sugar

3 garlic cloves; roughly chopped

1 tablespoon ground Ginger

reserved chicken marinade

Step-by-Step

1 bring 3 cups water and 3 tablespoons unsalted butter to rolling boil; add dried white rice; stir; cover pan tightly with lid and turn off heat

2 Combine soy sauce and cornstarch in Ziploc bag; shake and mix well until light brown marinade mixture comes together; add chicken tender pieces to bag; seal bag; refrigerate at least one hour

3 combine 3 tablespoons chili oil and sesame oil in large fry pan; heat over high setting

4 add chicken tenders; cook 3 minutes; (reserve marinade in a Ziploc bag) turn chicken tender pieces; cook additional 3 minutes; remove chicken from pan; cut into bite-size pieces

5 in small mini chopper combine all sauce ingredients; add reserved leftover marinade from Ziploc bag; Blend well; reserve

5 add 3 tablespoons chili oil; peppers, white scallion pieces, garlic slices and freshly ground pepper to fry pan sauté four minutes

6 add reserved sauce to pan; mix well; cook four minutes; scrape ingredients from bottom of pan with metal spatula if necessary

7 add snow peas, pineapple and pineapple juices to pan; mix well; continue to scrape bottom of pan loosening any ingredients; cook four minutes over high heat

8 arrange cooked rice in large serving bowl; top with stir fry mixture

9 roughly chop reserved green parts of scallions and sprinkle over top of stir fry; serve