Seduced by Produce: Chicken Stir Fry with Bok Choy, Snow Peas and Red Bell Pepper

Growing up, my mom would occasionally get the itch to experiment in the kitchen. Before I was born, she took a class in Chinese Cooking and would refer to her yellowing notebook for inspiration. Then my brother went away to college and brought back a love of sushi which my mom felt the need to perfect. Because of these experiments in Asian foods, my kitchen pantry did not resemble that of my neighbors in my suburb. We had sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, multiple bottles of soy sauce stored in the same pantry as the cereal, bread crumbs, and macaroni and cheese that my friends recognized. In our small community, "Asian" ingredients were relegated to a shelf-sized section at the local grocery chain and bok choy didn't show up too often in the produce section. We had a small garden in our yard at one point, and I was definitely the only child I knew that snacked on snow peas (stolen) on the way to school. I credit my mom for my habit of experimenting in the kitchen, and every time I see bok choy I get the hankering for "stir fry" because that's how I remember our stir fry adventures beginning.

At Hydro Harvest Farm, I found bok choy last Sunday, and then remembered he had snow peas, and the itch to experiment started. On a field trip to MD Oriental Market in Brandon, FL, I found vegetarian oyster sauce (no shellfish in our house) and it's been sitting gathering dust in our pantry and mocking me ever since.

Recipe:

4 tablespoons oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 inch of fresh ginger, minced
2 chicken thighs, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3 scallions, white and light green section thinly sliced
1 head of bok choy, stems separated from greens and sliced, greens cut into strips
1 cup of snow peas - cleaned, with the tips snipped off if woody
1 red bell pepper, cut in strips

3 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 cup of chicken broth, 1 tablespoon of broth reserved
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper1 teaspoon cornstarch

Cooked Brown Rice - 1/2 cup per person

*Serves two very hungry people with leftovers for lunch, but this should probably serve four.

Prepare all ingredients and have ready by the stove. Stir frying moves quickly and you don't want to have to chop something while trying to make sure something isn't sticking to the bottom of the wok!!! Heat the oil in a wok on high heat. If you do not have a wok, use a large saute pan with plenty of room. When shimmering, add the ginger and garlic and saute them until just beginning to brown.

Remove the ginger and garlic from the oil and reserve in a large bowl for later use. Add the chicken to the hot, and now seasoned, oil.

When halfway cooked, add the scallions to the wok.

Cook chicken pieces in the oil until no pinkness remains. Make sure to keep the chicken moving, as it may stick and burn. Do not overcook. Remove the chicken and scallions; add to bowl containing the ginger and garlic. Add the stems of the bok choy to the oil.

Saute for one minute. Add the snow peas and continue sauteing. Add the pepper slices and continue sauteing.

Add all remaining ingredients except for bok choy leaves, the cornstarch and reserved chicken broth. Keep the vegetables and seasonings moving in the wok. In a small bowl, combine the corn starch to the reserved broth to make a slurry. Once the liquid in the bottom of the wok is at a boil, make a well in the center of the wok, and add the slurry to the liquid and stir vigorously. If you don't add this slowly, or skip this step, your cornstarch will form little balls in the stir fry and give it an off texture. Once all vegetables are tender but still crispy, add the bowl with the chicken mixture to the pot along with the bok choy greens. Continue cooking until the sauce thickens and the greens wilt.