CHICKEN WITH CHINESE BROCCOLI & MUSHROOMS
This Chicken and Chinese Broccoli stir-fry is a delicious, light meal that truly brings out the best in tender chicken breast and sweet, crunchy Chinese broccoli, or gai lan.
This was one of the very first recipes we posted back in August 2013, when the blog was just a couple months old. Since it hasn’t gotten the most attention, I thought I’d re-test, re-develop, and re-photograph it! Turns out, I had quite a few changes to make.
In this new and very much improved version, we’ve also included metric measurements, clearer instructions, and updated nutrition information. Enjoy!
THE ORIGINS OF THIS RECIPE
This chicken and broccoli stir-fry recipe was born in my college years. Back in college (side note: I can’t believe I’m now 30, and a person who says things like, “back in college…”), I would get pretty homesick for Chinese food.
I would try to get creative at the dining hall’s do-it-yourself pasta station or partake in the vegan couscous salad (that was all they had if you got there a minute after 8:00). But a few weeks of that would have me yearning for the flavors of my childhood.
Every now and then, I would order Chinese takeout. But rather than your General Tso’s Chicken or Beef Lo Mein, I was looking for something that felt like the home cooking I missed so much.
One day, I thought I’d found my answer on the “special” menu. You know those lit-up, faded food photos that are always above the kitchen? Does ANYONE ever order off that thing? Well that day, I did.
It was just chicken with Chinese veggies. It looked like choy sum or Chinese broccoli in the picture, and I got irrationally happy about it. Finally, a leafy green vegetable that wasn’t lettuce or frozen spinach!
I got back to the dorm with my food, super excited.
But…then I took a bite.
It was salty! It was sandy! (An indication that they hadn’t washed the veg.) I was so disappointed, and my homesickness seemed to double.
I talked to my parents later that week, asking them how I might recreate such a dish, mostly so I could prove to myself that I could cook the food I so longed for.
Well, here it is. On the blog that we later started as a family to finally record these recipes once and for all.
Now, I’m not saying that this one is the recipe that started it all (there were many others). But for me, it represents the triumph of learning how to cook the food of one’s childhood.
FOR THE CHICKEN & MARINADE:
FOR THE REST OF THE DISH: