Asian Ginger Chicken

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Last Saturday I suddenly had the urge to try making ginger chicken because we had ginger and I’ve never made that dish before. [How's that for cooking logic?] While Dan prepared the marinade and the meat for the herb crusted flat iron steak we were having for Sunday night, I cooked this for our late lunch.

It’s one of my Asian cooking experiments. I didn’t follow any recipe and just went ‘by taste’, so it could be very different from Chinese cookbook versions. [I haven't checked.]

I’m surprised and quite happy with the results: the chicken was tasty and perfectly tender; the sauce’s ginger taste was just right and it blended well with the onion flavor, plus it has a kick from the ground pepper; the mushrooms added a nice flavor and texture to the whole dish; and the carrots…are cute. This will surely be a repeat dish in our household. If you’d like to give it a shot, I’ve measured the ingredients and outlined the cooking steps below. Enjoy!

Ginger Chicken

Ingredients

• 3 large chicken breasts, cut in 1.5-2″ wide strips (if the chicken breast slices you have is bigger than your palm, then that’s it)
• 1/4 C chopped white onion
• 1/4 C thinly sliced celery
• 3/4 C thinly sliced carrots, which you can decorate like I did…hehe, so cliche
• 3 stalks of scallions, cut about 2 inches long
• 2 baby portobello mushrooms (you can also use crimini mushrooms, I just didn’t have that)
• 2 Tbsp matchstick ginger slices
• 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 Tsp chopped garlic
• 1 Tsp lemon juice
• 1 1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tsp cornstarch (flour should work, too)
• Fresh ground pepper
• Kosher salt
• 1 1/2 C water, divided

Procedure:

1. Heat olive oil in a pan in medium heat.
2. Add chopped onions, a dash of salt and pepper. Saute until onion is almost clear.
3. Add garlic and cook until it begins to brown at the edges. Add ginger and celery, saute for a couple of minutes.
4. Stir in the chicken tenders with the mixture. Then lay the chicken pieces flat. Allow to cook in medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes each side, depending on the meat thickness.
5. Stir in oyster sauce and 1 cup of water. Add the scallions and mushrooms and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Add more pepper if you like it to have a little kick.
6. In a small cup, dissolve your cornstarch with 1/2 cup water. Pour into the pan while stirring.
7. Mix in the carrots and lemon juice. Wait for it to boil for the sauce to thicken from the cornstarch. Stir. Taste it. The oyster sauce should add enough saltiness, but you can add more salt if you like.
8. Take off the heat and serve with rice.