FLOWER POT KITCHEN: SPEEDY SHAOXING GINGER STIR FRY

27 Jan 2020

SPEEDY SHAOXING GINGER STIR FRY

Simple quick and easy family dinner, stir fry shaoxing ginger and spring onion chicken with peppers, onions, bean sprouts, kale and fresh jalapeños. Really quick from fridge to table, swap out or add in your favourite vegetables, if you can plan ahead then marinate the chicken in advance for more depth of flavour all the better. Serve with bowls of fragrant rice and a side of sweet chilli dipping sauce.

This recipe is so versatile you can swap out the meat for more vegetables or a different meats or fish. Don’t want rice swap for egg noodles or extra stir fry vegetables.

Prep time 15 minutes / Cooking time 5 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 2)

Stir Fry

300g chicken thighs skin & bone off finely sliced

1 tbsp coconut oil

2 tbsp fresh ginger sliced

1 fresh jalapeño sliced

4 stems of kale shredded

1 carrot julienned

1 leek julienned

1/4 red cabbage finely sliced

1/4 white cabbage finely sliced

100g fresh bean sprouts

1/2 red pepper sliced

1/2 green pepper sliced

1 onion finely sliced

2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

2 spring onions finely sliced

1 small bunch fresh chopped coriander

Marinade

75ml soy sauce or coconut aminos

50ml shaoxing wine

1tbsp mirin

1 tsp brown rice wine vinegar

1/2 tsp wasabi paste

1/2 tsp sesame oil x 2

1 tbsp grated ginger

1/2 tsp fresh grated turmeric

1 clove garlic grated

3 spring onions bashed to a paste

Accompaniments

1 cup uncooked rice or 2 portions noodles

Soy sauce

Wasabi paste

Sweet chilli sauce

In a pester and mortar bash the spring onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric and wasabi to a paste, add the rest of the marinade ingredients, mix together and pour over the chicken, leave to marinade in the fridge for half an hour or over night if you want to get ahead. The longer the marinade the deeper the flavours.

Rice or Noodles

15 minutes cooking time

Get this cooking before you start the stir fry.

To cook perfect fluffy rice, take one cup of uncooked rice and two cups of water bring to a gentle simmer, pop the lid on set your timer for 10 minutes then Do Not Lift The Lid at all during the cooking time and resting time. As soon as the timer rings take the saucepan off the head and leave to one side to finish cooking the rice under its own steam for a further 5 minutes, then your rice is ready to serve. If your having noodles then bring a pan of water to a simmer drop the noodles in and cook for around 2 minutes, drain, run under cold water then drizzle over a little sesame oil and reserve to one side.

Stir fry

7 minutes cooking time

Heat your wok on a high heat, add the coconut oil and the marinated chicken with all the marinade, stir fry for a couple of minutes until the chicken is just cooked, remove to a bowl and keep to one side, now add in all the stir fry vegetables except the bean sprouts and stir fry for a couple of minutes, add the bean sprouts, noodles if using and the reserved chicken and resting juices, toss through, stir in the 2nd half teaspoon of sesame oil, sprinkle over the toasted sesame seeds, fresh coriander and spring onions and serve. I like to have extra soy, wasabi and sweet chilli sauce on the side.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.