Chicken with Rice Wine and Sherry Sauce
Chicken is such a standard in my kitchen, I sometimes take for granted how versatile and flexible it is as a food platform. It gets me through the busy weeks, changing from meal to meal with effortless ease. Perfect with salad, with brown rice, with pasta or vegetables. For that matter, what doesn’t chicken fit with?
In a scramble this afternoon, I pulled out a stir fry recipe and adapted it to make a deliciously tangy and fragrant chicken. Toss with some lettuce, tomatoes and cukes, I had a fabulous salad. What I love most about this recipe is the way the sherry and the cornstarch act as both a marinade and a sauce thickener. Multi-tasking in a bowl!
adapted from The Breath of a Wok: Unlocking the Spirit of Chinese Wok Cooking through Recipe and Lore, by Grace Young and Alan Richardson. (Simon & Schuster, 2004) Copyright © 2004 by Grace Young and Alan Richardson.
Ingredients:
1 ½ lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" cubes
2 teaspoons dry sherry
2 teaspoon cornstarch
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon lite soy sauce
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon chili oil
2 tablespoons Chicken Broth (preferably organic)
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 teaspoons of the sherry, the cornstarch, ¼ teaspoon of the salt, and the white pepper. Add the chicken and toss to coat well. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, the vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, chili oil, the chicken broth and the rice wine vinegar.
- Heat a 12-inch flat bottom skillet over high heat. Add the vegetable oil and swirl it around. Add the chicken in a single layer, and let cook undisturbed about 1 minute, letting it begin to brown.
- Using a spatula, stir the chicken and continue to cook 1 to 2 more minutes, until chicken is brown on all sides and almost cooked through. Add the sauce and deglaze the pan, until the chicken is just cooked through. Remove from the heat and cover. Let stand 5 minutes. Serve.
8:23:12 PM 
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