Oyster sauce chicken with Chinese leaf
A quick and easy Chinese stir-fry that is full of flavour and perfect as a midweek meal.
Ingredients
For the marinated chicken
- 300/10½dz chicken thighs, boneless and skin removed, cut into 1cm/½in strips
- pinch salt
- pinch ground white pepper
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp cornflour
For the stir fry
- 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 2.5cm/1in piece fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
- 1 red chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
- 150/5½dz Chinese leaf, sliced into 5cm/2in chunks
For the sauce
- 50ml/2fl oz vegetable stock
- 2 tbsp tamari or low-sodium light soy sauce
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
To serve
- 2 spring onions, sliced diagonally, to garnish
- 150/5½dz green beans, cooked, to garnish
- freshly cooked jasmine rice, to serve
Method
To make the chicken, put the chicken and all of the other ingredients in a bowl and turn to coat thoroughly. Set aside.
To make the stir-fry, heat a wok over a high heat until smoking. Add 1 tablespoon of the rapeseed oil and swirl. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and stir-fry for a few seconds, then add the chicken. Stir-fry the chicken for 2 minutes until it starts to caramelise and turn opaque. Add the rice wine and deglaze the wok. Cook for another 2 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Spoon out this mixture into a bowl.
Reheat the wok over a high heat until smoking, then add the remaining rapeseed oil and swirl. Add the Chinese leaf and stir-fry for 1 minute, then add about 2 tablespoons of cold water to help create some steam to cook the leaves.
Pour in all the sauce ingredients and bring to the boil. Once the Chinese leaf has wilted, spoon out onto warmed plates, top with the chicken and garnish with the spring onions and green beans. Serve immediately with jasmine rice.
Recipe Tips
If you’re vegan, Ching recommends using firm tofu instead of chicken, and says that vegetarian oyster sauce would be “equally delish.”