Friday, January 27, 2006

Friday Food #3: chicken/edamame stir-fry

This is really just edamame and rice, dressed up. It's basically an epicurious recipe (sigh. I'm so predictable) but I left out the scallions because my kids won't eat them so they just go limp and icky in the vegetable drawer. If you like them, scatter sliced ones on at the end.

4 tbl soy sauce (I use "lite" soy sauce in hopes that the lower sodium makes a difference)
1 tsp honey
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped coarsely
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized chunks or slices or whatever shape you like
2 cups frozen edamame (no pods)
4 tsp dark sesame oil
3-4 tsp minced fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced

as much rice as you need to feed 4 people; I make 1-1/2 to 2 cups. Brown rice is great, but I make sticky white rice in my rice cooker more often--it's quicker, and this is one of those last-minute dinners. It helps to buy jars of minced ginger and garlic, too, and to have an Asian market nearby selling dark sesame oil for a reasonable price. I'm just saying.

Stir the honey and 2 tbl soy sauce together and pour over the cut-up chicken. Let it sit while you start the rice and toast the walnuts.

Toast the walnuts in a small frying pan on medium heat for about three minutes, shaking the pan or stirring frequently. Drizzle 2 tbl of soy sauce over them, stir until the walnuts are coated, and remove from the heat.

When you're almost ready to eat, heat the oil in a wok or large saute pan. Cook the chicken for about three minutes, stirring constantly. When it is done or almost so, add the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant. Then add the edamame and stir to mix well. When the edamame are thawed, toss the walnuts in and stir again.

If you were really on the ball and cooked the rice earlier, you could stir that into the chicken/edamame mess now and call it fried rice. Or you can just serve the chicken/edamame mess on top of the rice (or next to it, if your kids are segregationists) and that's good, too.

My kids pick the walnuts out. But I still think they're worth putting in. Oh, and if we were vegetarians, I think this would be a place we'd use tempeh, which has a nice chewiness to it and would hold up well with the other flavors. But of course we're not, which is why Nick has to worry about who his guardians will be. Sigh.

7 comments:

Susan said...

YUM. This looks like a total winner. My kids love edamame AND chicken.

L said...

I like this one! I already "invented" a quick dish with Uncle Ben's "instant" brown rice and frozen edamame (from Trader Joe's), but I also use corn and sometimes eggs... (we're vegetarian, you see :). So I'll probably try it with the Quorn (best veggie meat in the world) "cutlets."

I have to start writing about food in my blog. Problem is, there's so much I want to write about, and so little time. (I know if I read less blogs I'd have more time, but then I wouldn't feel connected to other people...)

sam said...

This looks great. But for me saying "I'm going to try it" actually means I will keep my eyes open for edamame beans for the next few weeks, because I have no idea where I'd get them in Budapest.

Susan said...

We had this for dinner tonight and our family gives it an enthusiastic ten thumbs up. (two per person) Of course we used white rice. And I left the green onions in the refrigerator to wilt. But otherwise it was a great hit and we are VERY grateful to have one more dish to add to our sadly limited repertoire.

Libby said...

Susan, is that Totoro next to your comment? I love Totoro!

I'm glad you liked the recipe, too. It's so easy and good...

Susan said...

We made this again tonight. With a side of Caroline's stir fried tofu. What a total winner!

Anonymous said...

Yum! You're right, it works great with tempeh. I messed with your recipe a bit and will post what I did when we're done talking about cake over there.