Chicken-N-Veggie Stir Fry

[Cutting Edge]

My version or Stir-Fry-N-Rice.  Makes 4 Good-sized portions.  Served over Rice - 4 cups min.  6 Cups seems bout right. (before cooking)

 

Stir-Fry Sauce:

1 cup Chicken - Marinated and precooked - use your own fav. marinade recipe for this, or just leftovers.
¼ Cup Water
2 tsp Corn Starch
2 Tsp Soy Sauce - Low Sodium
1 Tsp Honey
1 Tsp Minced Garlic
1 Tsp Sugar - Brown Sugar works well too
½ Tsp Steak Sauce
½ Tsp BBQ Sauce
½ tsp Yellow Mustard - Spicy Brown makes good flavor
¼ tsp Lemon Juice
2 drops Liquid Smoke
Healthy shake of - Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Fresh Pepper, and Ground Ginger

Mix ingredients in a bowl, add chicken, stir again, and set aside....yes, a second marinade!

Stir-Fry Ingredients (Veggies):  Prep ahead or ....Do as you go, but its fast paced by yourself,  but it eliminates dishes and mess to work around.  Keep in mind, the reason for grouping is time required to properly cook veggies.  Size is important    and directly proportionate to the time needed to cook but also keep veggies fresh tasting instead of a soggy pile of overcooked.....well

Bowl #1
½ Med. Head of Cabbage - sliced about ½ in wide

Bowl #2
1 small Carrot - cut into "Matchsticks"
2 stalks of Brocolli - Trim off "flourets" and cut to desired size. No stalks.
1 onion - ¼'d and sliced pole to pole to desired width

Bowl #3
1 cup Snowpeas - trim ends but leave whole, uncut and unshelled.
1 ear Corn - cut from cob
1 Bell Pepper - sliced to desired size  Red/Yellow work best because flavor is not over powering
4-5 med. Button Mushrooms - sliced 1/8 in thick

Need a sizeable skillet - I prefer an elec. skillet for size, tall sides, and heat control

Note:  Start water for rice, put egg rolls in oven/skillet, etc.  All should be done about same time.   16-20 min 

Heat skillet (approx 275°-300°)  any hotter and veggies scorch.
Add 1 Tsp Bacon Drippings or oil - heat till it shimmers, if its smoking its to hot

Note:  Constantly stir and fold veggies in pan.  Helps cook everything evenly and prevent burning.

Add Cabbage - cook 4-5 min. or untill edges begin to turn translucent (starting to loose its crunch) Lightly salt-n-pepper.
Add Bowl #2 - cook 4-5 min. until onions begin to turn translucent (somewhat tender)
Water should be boiling and ready for rice
Add Bowl #3 and Sauce/Pre-Cooked Chicken
In 2-3 minutes sauce will thicken.  Cook an additional 2-3 min. or until everything is heated through and steaming.

You can cook to personal texture of course.  I like everything to taste fresh and the peas to "pop".  Flavor is so much better!!    When I make my rice I use the "minute" stuff.  For every 3 cups of rice I add 1 Tsp soy sauce, and 1 chicken boulion cube.  Makes a huge difference in taste.

Sorry this seems so long, but it is a process for sure.  If everything is prepped, makes for a quick supper in 30 min or less.  Hope you Enjoy!!   

[Norm]

Another great one RW!

I do one similar with a wok and leftover rice.

[Cutting Edge]

Norm, I've never had much luck with a wok.  Temps varied so much I turned it into a feed bowl for the chickens....does work well for that!   Always wanted to try a cast iron one though.  I'm sure they work much better.

[Norm]

Hey at least it's not gathering dust in the pantry!

[LOGDOG]

Do you guys rinse your rice after it's cooked to get rid of the starchy paste? We do and it leaves it nice and loose to take to the next step.

[Norm]

I rinse my very thoroughly before cooking it Logdog, I've never tried it after it's cooked.

I'll give it a try next time.

[LOGDOG]

See ...I rinse it before and after. Before gets rid of the floaters ...any dark hulls that might be in there. We buy our rice at Sam's by the 40lb bag. But yeah, when you boil it and it gets that milky, thick water all up in it ... I dump that off into a colander and then rinse the rice, folding it as the water goes through it to make sure it washed that starchy film off. It comes out nice then. I like my rice loose and flaky not sticky or clumpy. I'm picky about my food though. 

[Cutting Edge]

LOGDOG, I've never tried the rinse after...sounds effective.  Steamed rice is the way to go IMO...but makes for even more dishes.  I'm picky bout my food too.  Why go through the effort cooking something, and not try to make it the best possible???  Kinda like sawing.   Hmmmm....maybe thats the link between most topics turning to food     Making quality products!!

[LOGDOG]

I'm with you rwthom279 ...all about the quality. We cook a lot of rice in our house but for some reason we've never steamed it that I can remember. What kind of steamer do you use?

[Cutting Edge]

Until it got damaged, I used a bamboo steamer...worked quite well.  Unfortunately I haven't replaced it yet, so I I am forced to just use a wiremesh strainer inside a pot that will accomodate it.  ½ in of water and cover it with a lid slightly cocked to let out excess steam and not make the rice to soggy.  It takes twice the time cause its not the most efficient, but it does work.  Fluff it with a fork and its not very starchy.  I need to replace the bamboo one for sure!

[LOGDOG]

I was just checking out steamers on YouTube. Now I know what you've got going. We've got a couple of those small steamers but they pretty much stay in the cupboard. I may need to get one out though and give it a run.

[LOGDOG]

I tried steaming a bunch of rice tonight in one of these new steamers that I used to do my crab legs and shrimp the other night. After an hour of steaming, The rice was nowhere near cooked. I gave up. Pulled out a pot, transferred what was left of the hot water from the base of the steamer to the pot, added some chicken broth and in went the rice. It was done in about 10 minutes, 15 at the most. Something about the dynamics of that steamer are not right for doing rice. Not sure what it is. Plenty of steam. Real hot. Just don't know ....