Chinese shouldn't be intimidating.. Simple meal with pictures for those interested.

tarheelmatt

I have noticed that Chinese is a hot question around at times (some more than others).  Thought I'd post a cook from Saturday.  

I call this chicken and broccoli.  No recipe used, just out of my head and from past experiences.  

1.5-2lb chicken ( I used tenders)
1 head of broccoli cut into florets
Soy sauce - 3/4 cup
Fresh ginger - Thumb size
Fresh garlic - 2 cloves
5 TBS honey
3 TBS rice wine vinegar
3 TBS sugar
Dash of Chinese five spice
1-2 tbs Symbal 
Cornstarch 
Salt 
Pepper
Canola oil 


Heated a sauce pan with a little canola oil to sweat the ginger and garlic.  Add soy sauce, honey, vinegar, sugar, couple cracks of pepper, Chinese five spice, and a little salt (I use low sodium soy sauce).  Taste for flavor.  Add more of each for your tastes.  Let cool and set aside.  

Cut chicken into chunks.  Salt and pepper them.  

In a large bowl add about a cup of corn starch.  Season with salt and pepper.  Bread chicken.  Set aside.  

Get the Egg up to around 450-500°.  Set spider in and add a cup or so of oil to fry chicken.  

Fry until the edges get browend a little.  Go in batches to not overload wok.  

After complete, remove oil, wipe wok, and get ready for veggies. 

Little canola oil, then add onions, then add broccoli.  

When nice and limp, set aside and add the chicken.  Get some brown on the chicken, then add the veggies, then the sauce.  Combine until sauce begins to thicken.  

Plate it, and enjoy! 

Note: I par steamed the broccoli in the rice cooker before hand.  Just to get slightly cooked.  

Pictures: 

1 - The setup.  It's pretty simple.  





2 - Frying chicken



3 - Doing the onions



4 - Everyone in the pool! 




5 - Sauce added and coating well.  Could have been thicker for my needs, but still good.  I like to have plenty of sauce for plating with rice.  



6 - Done!  Didn't get plated shots.  Nothing crazy.  Plated with Jasmine brown rice cooked in the rice cooker.  






Thanks for taking a look. 

CPARKTX

Nice, and great photos as usual

Gman2

Nicely done!! Looks great!!

theyolksonyou

So is low sodium salt heavy on the chlorine?

that plated pic is fantastic

JohnnyTarheel

Great cook... You make it seem so easy!!

bhedges1987

/bow. That looks amazing. 

northGAcock

Matt, thanks for shearing. You know I hold you in high esteem when it comes to Chinese / wok cooking. You did not disappoint here my friend.

SciAggie

Very nice. My wife likes a lot of sauce for the rice as well. 

Mattman3969

Outta bounds good Matt!!

theyolksonyou

You sheared that well....

tarheelmatt

CPARKTX said:

Nice, and great photos as usual

Thank you sir!  

theyolksonyou said:

So is low sodium salt heavy on the chlorine?

that plated pic is fantastic

Edited and corrected, a$$hole.  

JohnnyTarheel said:

Great cook... You make it seem so easy!!

Thanks buddy.

bhedges1987 said:

/bow. That looks amazing. 

Appreciate it!

SciAggie said:

Very nice. My wife likes a lot of sauce for the rice as well. 

My wife does too.  Thanks for taking a look.

northGAcock said:

Matt, thanks for shearing. You know I hold you in high esteem when it comes to Chinese / wok cooking. You did not disappoint here my friend.

Well, I'll have to call on you if anyone calls me out someday if the food tastes worth a damn.  

Mattman3969 said:

Outta bounds good Matt!!

Thanks buddy.

theyolksonyou said:

You sheared that well....

Shearing is cearing!   

theyolksonyou

Well, that's hurtful. I was just curious about a new salt. 

tarheelmatt

theyolksonyou said:

Well, that's hurtful. I was just curious about a new salt. 

My apologies.  I must have been the first to say that today?  Figured you were used to it by now.     I need to proof the crap first.  I was like "alright, WTF did I screw up on here".  Hahah.  

dmchicago

Nice!

Do you deliver?

theyolksonyou

I spent the better part of the day with a bunch of 10 yr olds. They only say a$$hole when no adults are around. So yep, first time today. Back to work tomorrow so I'm sure I'll hear it early. 

tarheelmatt

dmchicago said:

Nice!

Do you deliver?

If you were near we'd break bread brother!  Where are you located anyway?  Your signature has almost every capitol of every state in it.  

bgebrent

Beautiful plate Matt!

DoubleEgger

Looks good my friend. Nice write up too. 

Canugghead

Great cook and pictorial! we par nuke the broccoli and onion, separately, before stir fry.

StillH2OEgger

Boy, that looks great. Nice work.

MaskedMarvel

theyolksonyou said:

I spent the better part of the day with a bunch of 10 yr olds. They only say a$$hole when no adults are around. So yep, first time today. Back to work tomorrow so I'm sure I'll hear it early. 

I like both of you a lot and you'd better start getting along or else I'll get very sad. 

northGAcock

tarheelmatt said:

Well, I'll have to call on you if anyone calls me out someday if the food tastes worth a damn.  

Will vouch for you Matt any day.

tarheelmatt

Appreciate the kind words everyone! 

Have a wonderful day.  

SoCalWJS

Looks wonderful and may give that a shot. I was looking through the list of ingredients to see if I have everything as I am not real familiar with some Asian ingredients. I do not know what "Symbal" is, nor could I find it with a quick search. What is it and is it important or is there a substitute? Thanks.

tarheelmatt

SoCalWJS said:

Looks wonderful and may give that a shot. I was looking through the list of ingredients to see if I have everything as I am not real familiar with some Asian ingredients. I do not know what "Symbal" is, nor could I find it with a quick search. What is it and is it important or is there a substitute? Thanks.

Thanks!  

My apologies, I spelled that incorrectly.  It's Sambal Oelek.  Stuff is the chronic!  

ThrillSeeker

That looks great!  Nice pics and excellent write-up.

SoCalWJS

tarheelmatt said:

SoCalWJS said:

Looks wonderful and may give that a shot. I was looking through the list of ingredients to see if I have everything as I am not real familiar with some Asian ingredients. I do not know what "Symbal" is, nor could I find it with a quick search. What is it and is it important or is there a substitute? Thanks.

Thanks!  

My apologies, I spelled that incorrectly.  It's Sambal Oelek.  Stuff is the chronic!  

Ah! That stuff! I am familiar with it. Thought I had some so ran to the fridge. I have Vietnamese Chili Garlic sauce/paste. Similar? Same? Oh well, outta ginger and no broccoli, so a trip to the store is in order under any circumstances.

Thanks.

tarheelmatt

SoCalWJS said:

tarheelmatt said:

SoCalWJS said:

Looks wonderful and may give that a shot. I was looking through the list of ingredients to see if I have everything as I am not real familiar with some Asian ingredients. I do not know what "Symbal" is, nor could I find it with a quick search. What is it and is it important or is there a substitute? Thanks.

Thanks!  

My apologies, I spelled that incorrectly.  It's Sambal Oelek.  Stuff is the chronic!  

Ah! That stuff! I am familiar with it. Thought I had some so ran to the fridge. I have Vietnamese Chili Garlic sauce/paste. Similar? Same? Oh well, outta ginger and no broccoli, so a trip to the store is in order under any circumstances.

Thanks.

You could probably get by with that, but this has no garlic.  You could hold back on the garlic some if using that.  

Aviator

Sambal olek HAS garlic in it. 

tarheelmatt

Aviator said:

Sambal olek HAS garlic in it. 

Depending on what brand one buys, the Sambal Oelek from Huy Fong doesn't include garlic in the ingredients, but only a "may contain traces of garlic".  Traces and in the ingredients are two different things.  

Either way, know what you're putting in is what I'm saying.  

SoCalWJS

tarheelmatt said:

SoCalWJS said:

tarheelmatt said:

SoCalWJS said:

Looks wonderful and may give that a shot. I was looking through the list of ingredients to see if I have everything as I am not real familiar with some Asian ingredients. I do not know what "Symbal" is, nor could I find it with a quick search. What is it and is it important or is there a substitute? Thanks.

Thanks!  

My apologies, I spelled that incorrectly.  It's Sambal Oelek.  Stuff is the chronic!  

Ah! That stuff! I am familiar with it. Thought I had some so ran to the fridge. I have Vietnamese Chili Garlic sauce/paste. Similar? Same? Oh well, outta ginger and no broccoli, so a trip to the store is in order under any circumstances.

Thanks.

You could probably get by with that, but this has no garlic.  You could hold back on the garlic some if using that.  

I'll give it a shot. Packaging is virtually identical to the photo you posted - different store perhaps?