Ginger is the star of this recipe, and when I say ginger, I mean it!
As in a half cup of fresh, matchstick-cut ginger.
And let me just say how fragrant ginger is when it’s cooking- it’s heavenly. The smell alone is enough to rush out and get the ingredients to make this recipe.
I’ve been enjoying some Asian flavors this week. Our Soba Noodle Hummus Salad is kickin’ out some soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame seed oil, aaaannnd….ginger!
But here’s a couple of other reasons to make THIS recipe:
1. Easy
2. Yummy hoisin sauce.
3. And I almost forgot ginger is really awesome. What? Yup. Awesome. As in it has amazing health benefits like helping the belly and all those digestive things that take place there. According to the Dr. Oz blog ginger “stimulates good digestion, the basis of health” and is a “powerful treatment for nausea, morning sickness, and abdominal pain” plus some other neat things. See why I say it’s awesome? So I suppose I can say this recipe serves up a heap of awesomeness. Ok. Now I’m being silly :).
Now for some tips in cooking this recipe….
1. Choose ginger that is long and less knobby. It’s easier to work with and you’ll have less waste. If you don’t want to eat the ginger, don’t. It adds a nice flavor to the sauce and chances are you won’t eat all of the ginger anyways. I personally love lots of ginger and this recipe is my version of a ginger chicken dish I order a local Cambodian restaurant.
2. I like to cut my chicken pieces across the grain. If it’s cut this way, I find it’s easier to bite a big piece of chicken in half with your front teeth. Find the direction the grain is going and cut across that in half inch thickness. Then cut the strips into the size you want. I think it’s better that way, but cut it however you want.
3. I also like to cut the chicken last. Cut up all the other ingredients first, then cut the chicken. That way you don’t have to clean your cutting board twice.
4. Re-stir the water with cornstarch right before you add it to the pan as the cornstarch may have settled to the bottom.
5. Add the green onion just before you’re ready to serve. Since we’re only using the green part, the idea is not to cook it, but just slightly wilt it.
If you’ve made it this far… maybe you wanna check out a 48 second video I put together showing me making this in fast motion after all the ingredients were prepped. I would show me prepping everything, but the way I had the camera angled, attempting to video from above, kinda over my shoulder, you end up seeing 85% of the back of my head- not a good sight. I’m still getting the hang of this camera and video camera thing :/….
I like watching cooking videos if they aren’t too long- I can’t always dedicate 10 minutes to watching one though. Do you like cooking videos? Do you prefer pictures or do you have a preference?
- 1½ lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped in bite size pieces
- 3 Tbsps. vegetable oil
- ½ cup fresh ginger, peeled, sliced thin in match sticks
- 1 cup (1 medium) onion, chopped
- 1 Tbsp. (6 cloves) garlic, minced
- ¼ cup water
- 1 Tbsp. corn starch
- 5 scallions (green onions), sliced in 1 inch pieces green parts only
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
- ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp. sugar
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- Chop/cut the ginger, onion, and garlic. Set aside.
- Mix water and corn starch together and set aside.
- Mix sauce ingredients together and set aside.
- Slice chicken in ½ in pieces and then cut into 1-2 inch lengths. SPRINKLE ALL OVER WITH SALT and set aside.
- Heat oil on medium heat in a large saute pan.
- Add ginger and saute 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add chicken, onions, and garlic and saute a minute.
- Stir in sauce and cook about 3 minutes, stirring frequently to cook the chicken pieces on all sides.
- Stir in water with cornstarch. Cover and cook 3-5 minutes.
- Uncover and cook until the sauce reaches desired thickness.
- Turn off heat and stir in green onions. Serve over Jasmine rice.
This dish looks great. Love the lighting in the photo.
Thank you, and thank you, Peter! Appreciate your supportive words