Thursday

Crispy Garlic-Ginger Chicken, Asian Style




Better than take-out because it's fresh, hot and crunchy right from your kitchen. This quick and simple two-step dish of small chicken bites are lightly battered & fried, then added to stir-fried seasoning of garlic, ginger (and hot chili, if desired), finished with a simple coating of soy sauce lightly sweetened wth a touch of sugar.









Crispy Garlic-Ginger Chicken
2 generous main course servings with rice, or
4 servings if part of a multi course meal.

2 chicken breast halves - 
slice into bite-size strips or cubes
2 tablespoons of rice wine or extra dry sherry (not cooking sherry)
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt beaten with 1 egg white
3 tablespoons of cornstarch
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoons dried chili flakes (optional)
2 to 3 cloves of garlic - sliced
2- inch piece of ginger - peeled and sliced into thin matchstick size pieces
sliced on the diagonal.
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 to 2 teaspoons of sugar
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
2 or 3 scallions (green onions), 
white and green part thinly sliced.


Marinate the chicken with rice wine (or dry sherry), soy sauce and salt for 30 minutes. 
Beat egg white and cornstarch together until 
blended and add to the chicken and marinade. 
Stir to blend and coat chicken pieces completely.

In a wok or deep sided frying pan heat enough oil 
to deep fry  the chicken pieces. 
Fry the chicken for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown. Remove chicken from pan, drain well and set aside.


Remove all but 1 tablespoon of the the oil 
from the pan. 

Over medium heat stir fry garlic, ginger 
(and chili flakes if you are using them) 
for a moment until fragrant. 

Quickly add chicken to pan, stir gently to coat; 
add soy sauce, sugar and salt to taste. 
Stir to combine. 

Remove from pan and garnish with 
toasted sesame seeds and diagonally sliced scallions/green onions if desired. 

Serve hot, with steamed rice.





I was out of scallions this time, so I snipped some chives over the hot steamed rice instead -- just as tasty!

23 comments:

  1. Mmmmm....delicious. Can't wait to try it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Ashley, I hope you love it.

    I had always wanted to try something like this at home ~ it's so much easier than I imagined. Next time I'd like to try adding some orange or tangerine peel to the sauce. Yum!

    ReplyDelete
  3. MY fav kind of food!

    Oh my goodness..
    I even offered to fry shoestrings tonight and J said no..baked:(

    I will SPRING these on him one golf day..

    Mary.. I might add Sechuan Peppercorns..:) What do you think? I love their bite in many of these types of dishes:)Fresh..bitey..I cannot describe..
    PS..Bakingbites will not load in QC:(

    ReplyDelete
  4. YUM! I want a plate right now. And two steps you say? I'm sure chives were just as good as scallions, and a nice twist as well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This might just be on our dinner table this weekend. Thanks for sharing!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Monique, I think Schezuan would be perfect. I am fresh out, but they will be on my next Penzey's order. :)

    Hi Andrea, and Em! I hope you like it as much as I do. I fried the chicken in the little 'fry daddy', so there was a minimum of mess or clean-up. (I love that!) :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Monique, that's too bad that the link won't load. :( I wonder why?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Looks delicious! I have question though & maybe you know an answer -- What if I just moved to Holland & I can't figure out where to buy cornstarch? Can I just omit it or is there something I can substitute?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your photos came out TERRIFIC!!

    I'm thinking Asian tonight instead of the grilled sausage
    that is on the menu for dinner.

    Thanks for the recipe my children are sure to love this as they are keen on Oriental food!
    ~ingrid

    ReplyDelete
  10. I made it last night - and sadly, I over fried the chicken which made it too dark. Frying is a skill I have definitely not mastered (perhaps because I rarely do it). Even my lack of ability could not ruin this dish - the flavor was great!

    I'll make it again that's for sure :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. This looks so good. I wish I could take a bite of that right now.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I followed the directions as followed and when I cooked the chicken there was no crispy yummy outside. I don't know what happened- the cornstarch mixture that it marinated in just didn't workout for me : ( Any ideas on what happened?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wish I could have been there to help, I's Mom. This recipe is always no fail for me.

    It's a two step fry method, the first ("deep" fry) puts the the crispy coating on the chicken and the second one bathes it in sauce.

    I'm puzzled about what happened if you followed the recipe as posted.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Just had to tell you that I always refer to your blog for recipes and tried this one tonight-I LOVED it! Thank you so much. Another one to bookmark!

    Best wishes,
    Natasha.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Just did this with pork.
    Many many thumbs up.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I have everything cut up and ready to go for tea tonight ...though going to add some bok choy to it need them veges ...can not wait to try

    ReplyDelete
  17. Just made this for dinner and it was delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I was wondering if you can freeze this. I am expecting in September and looking for some good cook and freeze recipes. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi Jewel, First of all happy, healthy baby!

    Sorry to say I'm not much of a freeze expert (at all...)

    But I would be apprehensive to freeze this particular recipe because it would alter the crispy coating (making it soggy.) I think your best bet would be to freeze saucy-type recipes. Hope this helps!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I made this dish last night and, although it was very good, my chicken was not crispy at all. I followed the direction completely and fried them in a hot wok. They looked nice and brown but soggy. What do you think I did wrong? I would love to make this again but I would want my chicken crispy.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hello Elizabeth, I, too am puzzled that your chicken did not become crispy. Did you deep fry, or stir fry?

    It must be deep fried in enough oil so the chicken actually floats, and in batches if necessary so as not to cool the oil down.

    If you did deep fry and the chicken didn't crisp up, perhaps you may need to fry them twice for a crispier crust ~ though I've never had to do that. I hope if you try it again that you have more successful results. It really is a delicious, crispy dish.
    Thank you for your comment.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments, friends ~ they make my day!

A Sampling of my food . . .

Subscribe:

 Subscribe in a reader...or

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner