Barb's China Chicken Rice
Submitted by mariade
Barb’s China Chicken Rice stir-fries ginger-sesame marinated chicken breast with mushrooms, zucchini, cilantro, and almonds over cooked rice. A fast, one-pan Asian-inspired weeknight dinner.
YIELD
1 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
10 minREADY
30 minThis is a home cook’s version of Chinese fried rice with some smart technique built in. The chicken marinates briefly in ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and soy sauce before hitting the pan, which means the flavor penetrates rather than sitting on the surface. That’s the difference between chicken fried rice that tastes seasoned through and through versus one that tastes like plain rice with soy sauce on top.
The vegetable sequence is deliberate. Onions go first until limp, then mushrooms cook until they release their liquid and that liquid concentrates. Those vegetables get set aside while the chicken cooks, which lets you get proper browning on the chicken rather than steaming it in a crowded pan.
Zucchini and cilantro stir-fry for just three minutes, keeping the zucchini from going mushy. Then everything reunites: rice, reserved vegetables, a splash of chicken stock to loosen things up, and finally the slivered almonds go in at the very end so they stay crunchy.
Serve immediately. Rice dishes like this continue to absorb liquid and the vegetables keep softening if they sit.
Kitchen Tips
- Have everything prepped and ready before you start cooking; this moves fast once the pan is hot
- Drain most of the marinade from the chicken before adding it to the pan so it browns rather than steams
- Use cold leftover rice if you have it: cold rice stir-fries better than freshly cooked, which tends to clump
- Toast the almonds briefly in a dry pan first for deeper flavor
Ingredients
Directions
Place chicken pieces in a bowl with the garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and 2 tablespoons soy sauce. stir to coat and let stand while preparing the remaining vegetables.
Put the canola oil into a medium sized skillet (or wok). Sauté the onions until they are limp. Add the mushrooms and sauté until they give up their juice. Remove the vegetables and reserve. Put the chicken and it’s spices in the skillet, being careful to drain most of the liquid and cook until it it cooked through and slightly browned.
Add the zucchini and cilantro, and stir fry 3 minutes. Add the rice, the reserved vegetables and enough of the chicken stock to keep the rice from sticking.
Cook only briefly to allow everything to heat through. Add the almonds and serve immediately.
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