Favourite Moo Goo Gai Pan

Moo goo gai pan literally translates to ‘button mushrooms and sliced chicken’ in Cantonese, and the dish is what its name promises: white meat chicken stir-fried with fresh mushrooms and scallions, lightly seasoned with soy sauce. No gloppy brown sauce, no cornstarch slurry, just clean ingredients hitting a hot pan.

The key is keeping the heat ferocious and the cooking fast. Real wok cooking depends on the pan being hotter than your oven, so the chicken sears rather than steams. If you smell only chicken cooking, the pan isn’t hot enough.

Peanut oil is specified because its smoke point is well above other cooking oils. Vegetable or canola oil work, but olive oil and butter will burn before the wok is hot enough.

Cooking the mushrooms and onions first, then setting them aside, is the proper stir-fry method. Crowding the pan with everything at once drops the temperature and turns the dish into a soggy mess instead of a clean stir-fry. Each ingredient cooks separately, then everything reunites at the end.

Slice the chicken thin and against the grain. Thicker pieces cook unevenly and the outsides toughen before the centers cook through.

Pro Tips

• Have everything prepped and lined up before turning on the heat. Stir-fry happens fast and there’s no time to chop mid-cook.
• Use a carbon steel wok if you have one. Cast iron and nonstick won’t get hot enough.
• Add a teaspoon of sesame oil at the very end, off the heat, for nutty aroma.
• Serve immediately over white rice. Stir-fry waits for no one.

Variations

• Add sliced water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, or snow peas for traditional vegetable variety.
• Swap soy sauce for tamari to make it gluten-free.
• Toss in a teaspoon of minced ginger and a clove of garlic with the mushrooms for more aromatic depth.