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The Ghetto Cook Episode XXVII:
Chicken Stir Fry
Introduction
What is up bitches?!? I bet some of you readers thought the TGC series went the way of your childhood pet cat/dog Sniffles or whatever name it had, six feet under to a "better place" (by which your parents meant a place without you) never to come back. But it's back, alive and kicking, thanks to some hiccups in a much larger upcoming project I am attempting.
This time around we are making a simple home style stir fry that takes mere minutes to assemble and is great for a summer lunch. The three main ingredients are chicken breasts, green bell peppers, and mushrooms. It is a light yet flavorful combination that draws influences from both traditional Chinese cuisine and Western style Chinese cuisine.
Ingredients
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/MmuhM.jpg)
More ingredients than you can shake a stick at? I don't think so. You can shake a stick at all of them if you wanted to.
Prep/Cook time: 15 minutes, plus ~2 hours hydration/marination time
Serves 2-3
2 skinless boneless chicken breasts [+]
2 green bell peppers
7-8 button, brown, or shiitake mushrooms*
Chinese cooking wine**
salt
pepper***
1 garlic clove (optional)
cooking oil
1 tbsp corn starch or 1 1/2 tbsp flour
*In the picture I had some hydrated shiitakes and a few leftover button mushrooms. You can use all of one type, a mixture, or however you like. Of course, shiitakes and mushrooms aren't exactly cheap. If you're on a shoestring budget you can omit mushrooms altogether.
**The brown kind. If you buy Chinese cooking wine from an Asian goods store it should be far cheaper than the cheapest grape wine you can find. Otherwise, substitute the cheapest white wine you can find.
***White or black pepper can work. White pepper is quite expensive in Western supermarkets for whatever reason, you can probably find it cheaper in the same Asian goods store you buy the Chinese cooking wine.
[+] So I got a complaint that boneless skinless chicken breasts are technically the most expensive cut of chicken. If cost is an issue, what you should do is buy whole chickens and cut them up yourself. You will get two wings, two thighs, two legs, two breasts, a neck, the gizzards, the back, and the breast bones. The bones (and gizzards and neck) can be used for stock. Most cooks will tell you to use the back for stock as well, but it has a fair amount of meat on it. Cut it in half and you get an additional two pieces of chicken. All the pieces minus the bones and the breasts can be used for dark meat endeavours such as chicken stews, roasts, and the like. Use the breasts for stuff like what I've got here. There will be more on this in an upcoming blog entry.
Cooking
This time we'll start with the cooking first and move on to the prep later! Just kidding. We always prep first.
At least two hours before you make the dish, cut your chicken breasts into about 3/4 inch (2 cm) pieces. Season them with about half a teaspoon of salt and douse with 5-6 tablespoons of wine. Set the breasts in the refrigerator until cooking time. If you are using dried shiitakes, use this time to submerge them in some water as well (cold water if soaking overnight, warm if on the same day). Both marination and soaking can be done up to a day ahead of time.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/SReMf.jpg)
These days chicken farmers are obsessed with large breasts.
Just before you are ready to cook, chop your mushrooms and green peppers into bite-sized pieces, also roughly 3/4 inch (2 cm). Mash your clove of garlic. If you plan to serve this dish with rice, you should start on it roughly 10 minutes after the rice has started cooking to ensure that both items finish at the same time.
NOTE: If you are using rehydrated shiitakes, squeeze the excess juice out of them after removing from the soaking liquid. This is a very mild dish and the strong flavor of shiitake can easily overpower everything else.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/9Pv0c.jpg)
If you know karate, feel free to chop the vegetables by hand.
Now we are ready to cook. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil into a pan and turn heat to high (if on an electric range) or medium/medium high (if on a gas stove). Dump your chicken minus the marinating fluid into the pan. Season with pepper and cook until just before done, about two minutes. Stir the chicken often to keep it going and cook all sides evenly. Do not worry about browning; it is not required for this dish.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/vWwcI.jpg)
The French will tell you this is poulet and the Chinese will tell you it's ji, but they're all lying. It's actually just chicken.
Dump all of your vegetables into the same pan. Season with salt and cook until almost done, which should take about three minutes. The non-shiitake mushrooms should soften but the green peppers should stay firm and crisp. While you are stir frying, prepare about 6 tablespoons of cold water mixed with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch (or 1 1/2 tablespoons of flour).
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/5oFz6.jpg)
What if it's possible to become fungitarian and not eat meat or vegetables?
When the vegetables are almost done, add both the chicken and flour/water mixture into the pan. Taste for seasoning. Cook for about a minute or two until the the sauce thickens and coats all the pieces of meat and vegetables.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/BovgI.jpg)
To Westernize the dish further, add six cups of heavy cream and beat in four sticks of butter.
Serve hot with steamed short-grained rice. Although the dish is mild, it pairs well with other, strong-flavored dishes such as chilled kimchi for contrast.
The Result
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/sBZcw.jpg)
Kimchi is like Wheaties for Starcraft.
4.5 / 5 Pretty good for a quick, fast meal. The crisp green bell peppers provide a contrast in texture from the juicy mushrooms and chicken. The chicken breasts are tender and juicy, not tough or overcooked. As you can see, I have a small side bowl with some kimchi topped with a bit of chopped scallions to balance out the flavors for the meal.
Conclusion
Unlike Western cooking philosophy, which considers a wide variety of flavors in terms of gauging a dish, Chinese cuisine prioritizes two main factors when determining how tasty a dish is: aroma and umame (or savoriness). For this reason, you will often find many dishes in true Chinese cuisine which are rather one-dimensional in flavor, but presents the flavor in an extremely assertive way. This is a dish that follows such a philosophy: both chicken and mushrooms are heavily umame-flavored and serve to enhance each others' flavor in this dish. The overall taste is simple and direct. That is why it is good to have a small side of kimchi for palate cleansing if this is the only dish you plan to serve with rice.
And that's the end of that. Questions and comments welcome. All past entries of The Ghetto Cook and my other series Hasu Cook can be found on my main blog,
http://foodinmind.wordpress.com
Until next time, don't blind yourself, you'll need your eyes to read my blog.
Father: Don't masturbate son, it'll make you go blind.
Son: Dad, I'm over here
 
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As a college student trying to save money, I always love your blogs (they also make me very very hungry at night....)
Have you tried making this dish in a much spicier fashion?
Like adding pepper power or paste to make everything red and spicy
Really interested in trying it out (I'm obsessed with spicy things D: )
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On May 16 2012 14:42 JerKy wrote:
As a college student trying to save money, I always love your blogs (they also make me very very hungry at night....)
Have you tried making this dish in a much spicier fashion?
Like adding pepper power or paste to make everything red and spicy
Really interested in trying it out (I'm obsessed with spicy things D: )
Thematically this is a "clean" dish designed not to be spicy. You can try mixing something like a garlic chili paste directly into the dish to your desired spiciness.
I have a Shanghai palate, which means when I make something spicy I also try to make it a bit sweet and probably involve a bit of soy sauce. If you're Korean your palate may not be the same as mine so it's hard for me to think of how to cater to your palate 
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I love to make this kind of thing. I had stir fry vegetables and chicken on the bone for dinner in fact. As a fan of food, I recommend JerKy get a bottle of Sriracha and a small thing of sambal olek. Both really fit well with adding spiciness portion by portion.
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As painful as this may sound, I actually dont like Sriracha all that much :o
I can see why people like it, and if its available, I use, but there are flavors that fit my taste buds better ><
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Now I'm hungry. Time to make bacon and eggs at 3am, eat, then finish up my paper. I like your ghetto cook blogs. 5 stars.
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Looks really good except that green pepper, but thats just me because I hate green pepper so badly.
Nice bloggin
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Do you have any alternative/replacement suggestions for bell peppers? For some reason I absolutely cannot stand their taste.
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Nice. Just as smell of food is floating through the window at almost dinner time here. Also, the end result totally looks like something that would be served in Chinatown, well done 
Your captions are awesome, I kinda pictured some of them on those Unimpressed Flash Meme thread regulars:
"More ingredients than you can shake a stick at? I don't think so. You can shake a stick at all of them if you wanted to."
Is totally PhilosoStorkoraptor
"What if it's possible to become fungitarian and not eat meat or vegetables?"
Is totally Conspiracy Bisu.
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On May 16 2012 18:38 elt wrote:
Do you have any alternative/replacement suggestions for bell peppers? For some reason I absolutely cannot stand their taste.
I'd say asparagus is the best alternative.
If you don't really care to stick with the theme though, you can use broccoli, snap peas, or any other crisp vegetable, and even flesh it out further with onions, carrots, bamboo shoots, baby corn, and any other vegetables you've got.
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Cooking sherry is probably the best grape alcohol alternative to Chinese Shaoxing wine.
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I'm not too fond of mushrooms, do you think I can replace them with something else? Maybe carotts or onions or leeks?
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there is nothing ghetto about this cooking series lol
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looks like I'm having stir fry for dinner
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+ Show Spoiler +How bad is it that I read, "The Ghetto Cock"?
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you funny son of a b. Great as always
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I despise mushrooms, so I would NEVER eat this but 5/5 regardless for being awesome.
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Darn
I should totally run out of class to get myself a (second) lunch
Which just might be inspired by the images
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On May 17 2012 00:25 Symmetry wrote:
I despise mushrooms, so I would NEVER eat this but 5/5 regardless for being awesome.
You realize you are allowed to alter recipes to your liking right? Taking out mushrooms doesnt change anything. Replace it with broccoli or omit it. SMH at I would never eat this.
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On May 16 2012 14:42 JerKy wrote:
As a college student trying to save money, I always love your blogs (they also make me very very hungry at night....)
Have you tried making this dish in a much spicier fashion?
Like adding pepper power or paste to make everything red and spicy
Really interested in trying it out (I'm obsessed with spicy things D: )
i dice up some chilis and throw them in.
if you are really a fan of spicy ... should try hakka style chili chicken (dry).
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On May 17 2012 02:26 a176 wrote:Show nested quote +On May 16 2012 14:42 JerKy wrote:
As a college student trying to save money, I always love your blogs (they also make me very very hungry at night....)
Have you tried making this dish in a much spicier fashion?
Like adding pepper power or paste to make everything red and spicy
Really interested in trying it out (I'm obsessed with spicy things D: ) i dice up some chilis and throw them in. if you are really a fan of spicy ... should try hakka style chili chicken (dry).
Any particular recipes that you recommend or should I just look some up/experiment?
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I have always loved these blogs, thank you for making them, and please continue it!
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boneless skinless breast is like... pound for pound the most expensive of all cuts of chicken... i disapprove of the 'ghetto' rating!!
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On May 17 2012 04:22 TimmyMac wrote:
boneless skinless breast is like... pound for pound the most expensive of all cuts of chicken... i disapprove of the 'ghetto' rating!!
These breasts were originally part of a whole chicken which I bought and cut up into pieces.
If you buy whole chickens and cut them up yourself, it's cheaper than buying any single cut of chicken.
On May 16 2012 21:50 surfinbird1 wrote:
I'm not too fond of mushrooms, do you think I can replace them with something else? Maybe carotts or onions or leeks?
Blasphemy! :o
Well I suppose you could. You can omit mushrooms altogether and (technically) add whatever vegetables you want. Just keep in mind that it will significantly change the flavor of the dish and the cooking time as well.
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Well done. I tend to add other random junk to stir fry, but this probably provides the best strong flavor. Might try in a few days.
In regards to spiciness, generally stir fry isn't... from eating at friends houses if you do add stuff just add chile paste.
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Nice write-up. Though I prefer to add garlic chilli paste and a sauce made of 2/4 soy, 1/4 sukiyaki, 1/4 oyster sauce and a teaspoon of corn flour. Cashews, broccoli and an onion (staple) are good additions too. Thigh is also WAY better than breast if you have the option.
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On May 17 2012 12:13 Scarecrow wrote:
Nice write-up. Though I prefer to add garlic chilli paste and a sauce made of 2/4 soy, 1/4 sukiyaki, 1/4 oyster sauce and a teaspoon of corn flour. Cashews, broccoli and an onion (staple) are good additions too. Thigh is also WAY better than breast if you have the option.
I think it's a matter of personal preference, but I also like thighs way better than breast. (sounds weird)
re: OP recipe. I don't think the shaoxing wine as a marinade does all that much. Light soy and oyster sauce would be wonders for the wine marinade though. I'd also add half an onion, and few slices of ginger.
lol @ the westernize suggestion
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On May 17 2012 12:13 Scarecrow wrote:
Nice write-up. Though I prefer to add garlic chilli paste and a sauce made of 2/4 soy, 1/4 sukiyaki, 1/4 oyster sauce and a teaspoon of corn flour. Cashews, broccoli and an onion (staple) are good additions too. Thigh is also WAY better than breast if you have the option.
Well, that produces an entirely different dish altogether. Although my experience with Western cuisine is scant, I've eaten (and cooked) enough Chinese cuisine to be fairly intimate with the ingredients and their effects. I've simply chosen the ingredients I have to produce a specific effect that I find tasty.
Of course you can make many different types of stir fries with different sauces. If you add scallions, or ginger, or both scallions and ginger, or light soy versus dark soy, they all produce pronouncedly different flavors. Stir fry is more of a cooking method than a specific dish.
On May 17 2012 17:58 broz0rs wrote:
re: OP recipe. I don't think the shaoxing wine as a marinade does all that much. Light soy and oyster sauce would be wonders for the wine marinade though. I'd also add half an onion, and few slices of ginger.
I have to disagree with you on that one. It's true the wine doesn't affect the chicken as much as it would for pork, but the wine definitely adds a lot of flavor to the chicken (at least to me, probably because I grew up with these flavors). I also considered onion and ginger, but decided they'd complicate the flavor and texture too much. It is a very simple recipe though.
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Canada2068 Posts
Damn it, I get so hungry reading your blog. I only have a bagel to gnaw on, but I guess it's better than nothing.
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This is pretty standard stir fry, essentially meat+ vegetable chopped up, and pan fried.
thought it would've been more fancy, rather than clean. also i HATE mushrooooooooomms.
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Nothing ghetto about this. A+
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I am bookmarking your blog so that when I go to college, I won't starve to death/live off of ramen noodles/starve to death/use up all my meal plan money/starve to death.
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This looks really good. I'm gonna make it for a dinner tonight. 5/5
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What does the wine bath actually do for cheeckens?
I do not know. I wish to know. I ask.
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I'm from southern China and in meats we stir-fry or just cook in a general matter its usually pre-prepped or marinated with:
- Sesame oil
- Rice Wine
- Oyster sauce
- Corn starch
- Salt
- Soy Sauce
- Rice Vinegar
My grandmother and aunt tells me that the wine serves mostly to remove any lingering odors from meat. But then again with all those basic ingredients, I'm pretty sure that meat will be fine. I would just assume its an essential component.
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On May 19 2012 12:16 SuperJongMan wrote:
What does the wine bath actually do for cheeckens?
I do not know. I wish to know. I ask.
The wine bath basically flavors the chickens with the wine without having to actually add the wine to the dish. Chicken breasts are very easy to overcook, so it is difficult to infuse the chicken with wine flavors while cooking it without overcooking the breast meat.
The other reason was that my original plan was for the dish to be very light in color, so adding wine directly to the dish would discolor it. Of course, the mushrooms darkened the sauce anyways, making that point moot.
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Im not usually a fan of stir fry but this one looks good.
Loved the captions under the pictures btw
5/5 :D
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Too advanced man... where's my spaghetti and ketchup.... I'll fail this.
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Is it just me, or does your kitchen grill go blue when hot?
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You get a 5 just for that quote at the end
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Hahahaha this entry is so entertaining (as are the rest, probably)! I will probably need these dearly in the future, so thanks for posting these. ^^
Are you Shanghainese?! Awesome, Shanghai represent :3
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Oh man I like eat this dish every other day, alternating between beef and chicken
Its all I know how to make lols D:.
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EPT
