veggies & chicken glazed in a sweet & savoury asian sauce – yum!

You have to try this one! It’s so good. Make a side of rice or noodles that will be your bed to soak up the sauce from this delicious stir-fry.

The other day I was staring at my fridge (after I had already taken out a whole chicken out of the freezer to defrost) and I knew I had to use up my broccoli before the florets started to turn into that yellowy colour (not very edible). I was thinking some sort of stir-fry to combine everything in one pan. Less mess!

So, obviously, I’m asian. Taiwanese, to be exact. And I can make a good stir-fry. But I was kind of tired of my usual go to combos (1. garlic, soy sauce, sugar or 2. ginger, sesame oil, green onions) and really wanted something that felt like take out but not greasy and unhealthy like take out (it always tastes so good in the moment but then you feel so terribly thirsty at night because of all the salt!).

I googled “broccoli and chicken” and came across “Little Spice Jar“.  Her “ginger chicken stir-fry with broccoli” looked simple and inviting, but I didn’t have the exact ingredients. I also wanted to make one dish for the whole family (we have piepie who’s 5 years old and boss who’s 3 years old) so I couldn’t make it spicy at all. Sometimes I make the effort to make two separate pots or pans of a dish so that Ryan and I can enjoy our spice (yum chillies!) but this was one of those days where a one pot dish was going to keep my sanity. And we always have sriracha in the fridge anways:).

We all loved this dish and the kids ate it up – broccoli and all. The leftovers were awesome for lunch.  So if you’re craving a little Chinese food, take out style, you have to try this one!

prep time: 15 minutes    cook time: 15 minutes    yield: 4-6 servings

what you need:

• 1 head of broccoli
• chicken (your choice skin on or off)
  • you can use 2 chicken breasts
  • OR
  • 2 chicken thighs and 1 chicken breast
• 1 large carrot
• 1 red onion
• cooking oil (I use grape seed oil)

for the sauce:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons cane sugar (or any sugar)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons grated ginger
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

what to do:

1. Combine sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix well, no clumps.
2. Wash and cut broccoli into bite size pieces.
3. Wash and peel carrot, then slice lengthwise in half. Thinly slice on a diagonal.
4. Peel onion and cut into bite size pieces.
5. Cut chicken (remove from bone if bone-in) into bite size pieces (about 1″ cubes). Season lightly with black pepper.
6. Heat up a large skillet (I used cast iron…you can use non stick pan as well) on medium – high heat. Add 1 tbsp cooking oil, then add chicken pieces (might have to do it in batches, don’t overcrowd the pan or they won’t brown nicely). Once they are browned on all sides, remove from pan into a bowl.
7. Turn heat to medium.  In the same pan after all chicken is browned and removed, add another 1 tbsp cooking oil. Add broccoli, onions, and carrots. Use a wooden spoon to stir occasionally, tossing everything together and cooking until broccoli turns bright green. It will take about 3-4 minutes. Turn the heat to medium low.
8. Add sauce mixture to pan and stir to coat – the sauce will thicken quickly. Add in the chicken and stir to finish cooking the chicken and coat everything evenly with the sauce.
9. Remove from heat and serve on top of rice or noodles. Enjoy!