Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe

A quick, easy recipe to make a chinese chicken and broccoli stir fry.

Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry

• Serves – 2
• Prep time: 30-40 minutes
• Cooking time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 medium size chicken breasts
• 1 cup of rice
• 1 head of broccoli
• 1/3 cup of water
• 2 table spoons sesame seeds
• 3 spring onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tea spoon minced ginger

For the Sauce

• 4 table spoons Hoisin Sauce
• 2 table spoons light Soy sauce
• 1 cap dry sherry
• 1/3 cup of water
• 1 table spoon corn flour

source

1. We start by creating the marinade for the chicken breasts (which will also be added into the stir fry as the sauce later on). Mix together the 4 table spoons of hoisin sauce, 2 table spoons of light soy sauce and the cap of dry sherry.
2. Next, peel the 2 cloves of garlic and chop until incredibly fine- you don’t want any huge lumps of garlic in the dish! Peel and mince the ginger (enough for 1 tea spoon. I always use a coarse cheese grater and grate the ginger into a mince), then peel and slice the 3 spring onions. Slice them diagonally and get even sizes with each slice. Add the garlic, ginger and onions into the sauce and stir well.
3. Take the chicken breasts and dice them into small cubes (around 1.5cm2). Make sure all the cubes are about even size to ensure they all cook in the same time. Put the chicken cubes into the marinade, cover with cling film and put in the fridge for 15-30 minutes, depending on how strong you prefer the flavour.
4. About ten minutes into the marinating, I start the rice in a rice cooker. One cup of rice will serve two people. If you use a rice cooker it will come with instructions, but my general measurements when cooking rice are 1 cup rice, 2 cups water.
5. Take the broccoli and thoroughly rinse under a cold tap. You will be using the broccoli stems as well so ensure that you save these as well. Chop the head of the broccoli into even florets and leave about 1.5cm of stem on each one if possible. A medium head of broccoli will serve two people. Chop the rest of the stem up evenly into strips and keep separate from the heads for now.
6. Use a wok on medium heat with 1 table spoon of olive oil. Fry the broccoli stems for around 30-40 seconds, keeping them moving in the pan before adding the broccoli florets. Stir fry these together for around a minute before adding a 1/3 cup of water in the wok. Fry for another 2 minutes before removing.
7. Take a small frying pan and get it to a medium heat. Get your sesame seeds and toast them in the pan (without oil) until they start to turn golden brown. Take off the heat and put aside.
8. Take the chicken out of the fridge and separate from the marinade. Put all the chicken cubes into the work and stir fry until they start to change colour (around 4/5 minutes). Add the broccoli stems and florets into the wok, and then pour over the remaining marinade.
9. There is a trick to getting the most sauce for this meal without adding extra measurements. When you’ve poured the marinade from your bowl into the wok, add around 1/3 cup of water to the bowl and stir to effectively ‘wash’ the bowl. Add a tablespoon of corn flour to thicken this up then add to the stir fry.
10. Keep the broccoli and chicken moving in the pan for a further 5-6 minutes or under the chicken is thoroughly cooked. Make sure not to overcook the broccoli as the heads will turn soggy. Make sure the sauce has covered everything then take off the heat.
11. Get the rice and serve in a deep bowl, before spooning the stir fry on top, letting the sauce soak down into the rice.
12. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the stir fry (as many or as few as you want) and serve.