A stir fry is the easiest of the easiest dishes to make when you’re hungry and lazy. Chop up some veggies, chop up some meat, stir them all in a pan until they’re reasonably cooked, enjoy with plain rice or noodles! This chicken stir fry is something I made a lot when I was a student, not so much nowadays. Because it’s such a flexible recipe I’m not going to bother with amounts, just use whatever veggies and meat you have on hand in whatever quantities you want.
Ingredients for chicken and bell pepper stir fry
Chicken breast or thigh, boneless, sliced into thin strips
Bell peppers (a.k.a sweet pepper/green pepper), sliced into thin strips
Onions, thinly sliced
Minced garlic and ginger to taste
Green onions, roughly chopped
Oil
Light soy sauce and a little oyster sauce
Salt and pepper to taste.
1tsp cornstarch mixed with a little water/stock (optional)
Recipe
If you sliced and chopped everything like I told you in the ingredient list, congratulations, you’re half done already! If you have time to spare, you can marinade the chicken strips for about 30 minutes in a little lemon and soy sauce with a pinch of curry for kicks. But it’s not necessary if you spice the dish itself correctly.
Find yourself a big pan or non-stick wok and plop it on the stove on high. When the pan is nice and hot, and a tablespoon or two of oil and stir fy the chicken briefly until lightly seared.
Remove the strips from the pan, add a little more oil if necessary and begin to cook the onions with the garlic and ginger. Keep stirring so they don’t burn. After about a minute, add in the bell peppers, cook for another minute, add the chicken back in.
Add about a tablespoon of light soy sauce (dark is fine too but then you lose the beautiful colour of the dish) and oyster sauce. Taste for salt and add pepper and other spices to taste. Instead of powdered red pepper I like to chop up real chili peppers and stir them in. Depends on how hot you like your food. As soon as the chicken is cooked through and the bell peppers are cooked but still crunchy, you’re ready to eat!
Last but not least, if you looked at the photo of the dish and thought, “That looks a little dry” then mix up a thin mixture of cornstarch and water or stock, just enough to coat the pieces in the pan without drowning them. Stir in and cook for another minute to get a nice, moist stir fry. Personally if I have really good rice and fresh meat and veggies I don’t mind the dry version, but a little moisture does help it go down easier.
Chopping the veggies can take a bit of time, but the cooking process from start to finish shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes. And then you have a fragrant, colourful dish to entertain your belly with. Enjoy!