The Common Culinarian

I came home from work and working out the other night and needed something dinner. Unfortunately, my wife had already eaten with some of her friends, so I was on my own. Rather than revert to a TV dinner, I decided to see what I had on hand. I was feeling something Asian inspired, but it needed to be healthful–so no General Tso’s chicken for me, though it’s actually really easy to make!

No, instead I settled on stir fried (from a skillet, if that’s even technically possible) chicken with a soy-sauce glaze and yellow rice. There’s no reason for me to have yellow rice, and it’s kind of a cheat on saffron rice (which is also yellow)–I just like the color and it’s different than standard rice. You can use saffron, though that’s expensive and probably not a good use of such a premium ingredient for something you’ll just whip up; I just used 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric–hardly any flavor, but lots of color.

To just whip something up, the first thing I needed to do was take an inventory of what ingredients I had. We had just gone to the grocery store the night before, so we had a pretty full refrigerator and pantry; but, some things were off limits because I had other plans for them. I did have plenty of root vegetables which make a good base for any dish. I couldn’t use any of the fresh meat we bought, but I did have some frozen chicken tenders in the freezer. So, chicken and vegetables it was going to be.

Second, I needed a plan. I took a few minutes to think about what I was going to do. I knew it needed to be quick, since it was already 8 p.m., so I opted to dice my vegetables and cut the chicken into bite sized chunks. But, I also needed to season the food somehow. There was some soy sauce, rice vinegar, and rice wine in the fridge from when I made General Tso’s chicken a while back, and I had some sugar on hand, so I thought I whip up a quick glaze from that.

Next, I set to work defrosting the chicken, dicing the vegetables, and sauteeing everything. While I let the vegetables work, I started the rice. Once everything was started and working, I prepared the glaze.

Finally, everything came together and I enjoyed my dinner. I made enough for two so I could have some at work the next day. Now, I’m sharing this recipe with you so you might be inspired to experiment in your own home.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1/4 green pepper, diced
• 1 rib of celery, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
• 1 large (or 2 regular) chicken breast, cut into bite sized chunks
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Procedure

1. Heat the oil in a medium skillet, over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and cook until soft.
3. Add the green pepper, celery, and garlic and continue to cook until the onion begins to caramelize.
4. Add the chicken and cook until all sides have turned brown.
5. In the meantime, combine the water, sugar, soy sauce, and rice vinegar.
6. Pour the glaze over the chicken-vegetable mixture and reduce by about 25%.
7. Serve over warm rice!