On the Fly Stir Fry: Chicken with Fresh Chickpeas and Orange

The beauty of cooking is that if you learn the method, you can take any set of ingredients and transform them into a great dish without a specific recipe. Many nights, dinner is the result of choosing a method – in this case, stir fry – and the available ingredients that make the most sense together. Or, sometimes, I experiment.

I had some chicken breast meat and some fresh chickpeas. I knew those two ingredients would work together well. My usual m.o. is to add green onions, garlic and soy sauce. Easy, quick and a sure thing. But I wanted a twist tonight.

I had two blood oranges and wondered what would happen if I sliced them thinly and flash fried them. So I tested one slice and the pulp disintegrated and the rind charred – which is a waste of a blood orange. I decided to try charring the slices in a dry, hot wok to see what would happen.

Then I added the chickpeas, some green onions, a couple of cloves of smashed garlic.

I added some water and soy sauce to cook the chickpeas and create a sauce. I squeezed the juice from the second orange into the sauce and added some freshly cracked black pepper. I added the chicken and continued to stir fry. (I had sliced the chicken into slivers and then marinated with a dash of soy sauce, blood orange juice, crushed garlic, and a touch of corn starch. Then I oil blanched the chicken and set it aside while I cooked the chickpea mixture.)

I tasted the dish and decided that there wasn't enough orange flavor. So I added the juice another whole orange (I had one navel orange left, so I used that).

Tasting notes: I liked this dish. But if I were to make it again in order to write an actual recipe, I'd eliminate the sliced oranges and go straight to adding the juice to the sauce. Or, my initial instinct was to segment the oranges and add the flesh to the stir fry. That may have been the better call, especially since that would have  featured the dramatic quality of the blood orange color. I also would have punched up the garlic. This would work with regular peas, snow peas, sugar snaps, pea vines, etc.

It was fun to play.

Chicken Wings with a Sweet-and-Spicy Pomelo Sauce

I heart chicken wings, especially the crispy, caramelized edges of fried or baked wings. I like to marinate the wing mid sections and drummettes in a combination of soy sauce, scallions, garlic, ginger and honey. The cooked wings can be eaten with or without a sauce. In the preparation in the photo above, I made a marmalade-like pomelo sauce. I happened to have one pomelo leftover from Lunar New Year that I needed to use, so I segmented the fruit and cooked it down with some sugar, garlic and hot sauce.

A note about cooking: I was gifted a T-fal ActiFry, which is a so-called low-fat alternative to deep fryers. It's not an appliance that I would have purchased, but since I have one, I use it for "frying" chicken wings. It does a great job of crisping the skin. It takes about 20-25 minutes for about 2 pounds of chicken wings. For the recipe below, I give directions for baking. If you have a deep fryer, feel free to fry the wings.

CRISPY CHICKEN WINGS

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup water

3 stalks scallions, trimmed and finely chopped

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed wit a garlic press

1 tablespoon honey

2 to 2.5 pounds chicken wing segments

Optional garnish: chopped scallions and/or cilantro

Combine the soy sauce, water, scallions, garlic, ginger and honey in a bowl or dish large enough to accommodate the chicken wings. Stir well to incorporate the honey. Add the chicken wings and coat well with marinade. Alternatively, you can seal the chicken wings in a large zipper storage bag with the marinade. Let marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.

To bake chicken wings: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread chicken wings on two parchment- or foil-lined baking sheets. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Check the wings about half way through and turn them. At 20 minutes, check one of the larger wings for doneness. Bake a few minutes longer, if needed. Toss in Sweet-and-Spicy Pomelo Sauce, if using, and serve right away. The sauce also can be served on the side. Garnish with chopped scallions or cilantro, if desired.

SWEET-AND-SPICY POMELO SAUCE

1 pomelo, peeled and segmented (how to segment citrus), see Note

1 tablespoon pomelo zest

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons water

1-2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed with a garlic press

Sriracha or your favorite Asian hot sauce to taste

Combine pomelo pulp, zest, sugar and water in a small pot over medium heat. Stir to help dissolve the sugar. Add the garlic and hot sauce to taste. Adjust heat and let sauce simmer, stirring occasionally, until it's syrupy, about 5-10 minutes. Turn off heat and set aside. When the wings are ready, toss in sauce and serve.

Note: If you pomelo is out of season, you can use grapefruit or orange. A shortcut version would be to mix your favorite store-bought marmalade with hot sauce, and warm on the stove or in a microwave just enough to loosen the consistency and make it easier to dip.

Baby Bok Choy With Chicken

I love how simple this dish is and how quickly it can be made. It's also a versatile dish because you can add different ingredients – such as julienned carrots, chopped green onions, minced garlic, minced ginger, mushrooms, etc. – according to what you have in the refrigerator. (I kept the seasonings simple this time, because I had received a locally raised specialty chicken as a sample and wanted to see if the nuanced flavor of the meat would shine through. It certainly tasted fresh and had good texture, but the purported flavor qualities weren't as prominent in this preparation.)

BABY BOK CHOY WITH CHICKEN

1 chicken breast half

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons cornstarch

3-4 heads baby bok choy, trimmed and leaves separated

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/4 cup water

Salt to taste

Drizzle of sesame oil

Cut the chicken breast half lengthwise into 2-3 strips, about 1 1/2 inches wide, or about the size of chicken tenders. Then slice each strip of chicken, crosswise, into thin pieces. Combine chicken with 1 tablespoon soy sauce and mix well. Then add the cornstarch and mix well.

Heat wok over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons oil and allow to heat. Add the chicken and quickly spread the chicken, as best as you can, into a single layer in the wok. This will allow the chicken to sear. After about 30 seconds, start to stir and turn the chicken to brown the other side. Continue to stir quickly until the pieces seem to be almost cooked through. This will happen very quickly and shouldn't take more than about 90 seconds. Turn off heat and scoop chicken into a small bowl and set aside.

Turn heat to medium high. Add remaining tablespoon of oil to wok and let heat for a few seconds. Add the baby bok choy leaves and start to stir around. The leaves will begin to wilt and turn dark green. Add the chicken and stir fry to combine. Add the remaining tablespoon of soy sauce and the water. Stir until all the baby bok choy leaves and the chicken are just cooked through. Add a pinch of salt, if needed. Finish with a drizzle of sesame oil. Turn off the heat and serve right away.