Hello friends. Welcome to my asian kitchen.
In college we used to order chinese take out from a few local dive joints – Asian Kitchen was the “better” choice, surpassing A8 China (what kind of name is that anyways?) If you were really feeling adventurous, you could venture out to Yummy Buffet (not joking). That place was sure to load you up with msg and a stomach ache the second you walked in the door.
As gross as I always felt after ordering chinese take out, I could never get enough of this chinese food. Maybe it’s because I couldn’t cook chinese for myself in my dorm room microwave.
Since I’ve grown up a little bit, I’ve come to realize that while take out might be ideal at 2 am after a night out (don’t remember the last time I’ve seen that hour of my clock), replicating the flavors I loved so much is not hard.
I call this my “asian kitchen” with the caveat that nothing about this is authentic. I am well aware of that. It is however totally delicious, and really simple. All you need are a few standard ingredients, and the flavor combinations are endless. I love that I can throw a few things together and create a quick str fry. Or make a simple marinade to add more depth to a dish.
My favorite msg-laden takeout of choice was always “chicken with broccoli”. It was safe to order off of any (or mostly any) menu. This homemade version of chicken with broccoli gets a punch from spicy sriacha sauce, and a little zing from some freshly grated ginger. I threw it together the weekend that I was baking my wedding cake and wanted a tasty dinner without any fuss. It turned out great and has become a staple in our house since then.
Spicy Ginger Chicken with Broccoli
Prep Time: 5 minutes (active) 2 hours (in
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Keywords: saute steam stir-fry entree Chinese
Ingredients (4 servings)
- 1 lb chicken breasts
- 1/3 c low sodium soy sauce
- 1 T fish sauce
- 1 T garlic chili sauce
- 2 t sriacha
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 t sesame oil
- 1 T brown sugar
- 2 T freshly grated/minced ginger
- 1 head broccoli
- 2 c prepared brown rice
- cilantro for garnish
Instructions
Combine soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic chili sauce, sriacha, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and sesame oil in a bowl
Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and add to marinade
Let marinade 1-2 hours
Heat skillet over medium-high heat
Pour chicken and marinade into skillet and cook 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through (the sauce will thicken up a little bit)
In the mean time, chop broccoli into bite sized pieces
Fill a skillet with 1 inch of water, put on the stove, bring to a boil
Put broccoli into steamer and cook 2-3 minutes or until it’s bright green
Remove the steamer from the skillet
Plate 1/2 c cooked brown rice with some chicken and broccoli and garnish with fresh cilantro
Enjoy!
Note: you can steam your broccoli any way you’d like, I just prefer the stove top method
