Velvet-tender chicken thigh strips stir-fried with a mountain of ginger and spring onion in a clean, savoury sauce. Twenty-five minutes, one wok, and gentle enough for children.
Prep
15 mins
Cook
12 mins
Servings
4
Per serving
£1.73
Difficulty
easy
This is the quiet end of Cantonese cooking - no chilli, no heavy sauce, just aromatics treated properly. Coating the chicken in cornflour and egg white before it hits the pan keeps it soft, a home version of the restaurant velveting technique.
Toss the chicken strips with the egg white, 2 teaspoons of the cornflour, half the white pepper and a pinch of salt. Leave to sit for 10 minutes while you prepare everything else.
Do this first and the rest of the recipe fits inside the resting time.
Rinse and cook the jasmine rice.
Slake the remaining teaspoon of cornflour in 2 tablespoons of cold water. In a separate bowl stir together the tamari, sherry, stock and sugar.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a wok over a high heat. Spread the chicken out in one layer and let it sear untouched for 90 seconds, then stir-fry for 2 minutes until just cooked through. Lift out onto a plate.
Add the last tablespoon of oil and turn the heat down to medium-high. Fry the ginger for 1 minute until it smells sweet and loses its raw edge, then add the garlic and spring onion whites and fry for another minute.
Pour in the sauce mixture and bring to a fast simmer. Stir the cornflour slurry and add it, letting the sauce thicken for 30 seconds.
Return the chicken and any resting juices, add the spring onion greens and toss for a final minute so everything is coated and hot through.
Take off the heat, stir in the sesame oil and remaining white pepper, and serve over the rice.