Chicken Stir Fry

I've never been a fan of homemade stir fry.  It just didn't taste quite right.  This evening after combining elements from several recipes I finally hit on a balanced taste combo that I love.  It can be made Paleo by using the arrowroot powder and coconut aminos.  Fish sauce can be Paleo but you have to read the ingredient list.  Regular sauce is just fermented fish and salt.  However, there is wide variations between brands.  Red Boat is very popular but I haven't tried that one yet.  I have a Thai brand that I need to use up first.  

If the veg chopping is too much work buy them prechopped at the supermarket.  I just used a veg stir fry mix and picked out all the bell peppers and kept the onions, green onions, cabbage, snow peas, then added carrot, extra onion and portabello mushrooms.  The veg mix is really your own preference.  The only thing to remember is to cook thick/heavy veg first and the delicate stuff last.

I prefer sesame oil to peanut oil but the whole thing has to be cooked at a lower temp since sesame is a lower temp oil.

Also, I always make extra rice.  I let the extra cool off and then bag up in individual servings and freeze for later use.

Ingredients:

serves 2

Marinade

1 scant teaspoon of honey

1t fish sauce (Nam Pla)

2t organic tamari (GF) or coconut aminos (gluten and soy free)

1T corn starch or arrowroot powder

1T sesame oil

1T water

1T garlic pushed through a press or smooshed

1T grated fresh ginger

Stir fry

1/2c dry rice per person (makes one cup cooked)

~1 lb chicken

1 portabello mushroom or criminis or others

1 carrot

1/2 white onion

2 stalks celery

several handfulls of snowpeas

small napa cabbage or bok choy or leeks or combo

sesame oil or peanut oil

Sauce

~1/4c cooking sherry

1T tamari or aminos

1T rice vinegar

1T corn starch or arrowroot

Garnish

1-2T toasted sesame seeds

1) Mix one to one ratio of rice to water.  Cook with method of choice. 

2) Make marinade and mix thoroughly.  Slice chicken into bite size pieces and mix into marinade.  Put aside.

3) Chop, slice and dice vegetable so that they are all about the same size.  Sort into piles for cooking first and last.  First: white onions, leeks, carrots, celery, mushrooms, bok choy stems.  Last: snow peas, green onions, cabbage, bok choy leaves. 

4) Mix together sauce ingredients leaving out the sherry.  Put aside.

5) Line everything up along the stove since this cooks fast. 

6) Heat large fry pan and add sesame or peanut oil.  When oil is shimmering add first vegetables.  Stir fry until onion wilts and becomes soft.  Add chicken and fry until browned on the outside but still pink in the middle.  

7) Deglaze the pan with the sherry only using enough so that a small amount of liquid is left.

8) Throw in last veg but don't stir.  Put lid on veg and let steam for about five minutes until chicken is cooked through and the cabbage wilts.

9) Stir in sauce and let it coat everything.  It will thicken up almost instantly.  Remove from heat and serve over rice.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.