Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry

This is one of those dishes you want to make sure and have EVERYTHING prepped before you turn on the stove and heat up the wok / pan.

Prep the veggies, cutting them how you want them.

If you are using spicy peppers, make sure you either use gloves or thoroughly wash your hands after working with the peppers. Do NOT touch your face, especially near your eyes, before you thoroughly wash your hands. Ask me how I know. 🙂

Make the batter:

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour and cornstarch.

Add the baking powder and salt, then stir to combine.

Slowly add the water, a few tablespoons at a time until all the water has been added.

Batter should be loose, but not too thin - about the consistency of pancake batter.

Add 1/2 of the beaten egg to the batter and stir to combine.

Add the oil and stir to combine.

Prep the chicken and marinade:

Cut the chicken in to bite-sized pieces, roughly 1" thick cubes.

In a large mixing bowl, make the marinade.

Add the cornstarch, salt, chicken bouillon powder, white pepper, oyster sauce, and water, then mix to combine.

Add the chicken to the bowl, then toss to coat all of the chicken pieces.

Add 1/4 of the reserved beaten egg and mix thoroughly.

Make the sauce:

In a small mixing bowl, combine the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, and water.

Mix to combine.

Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

Make the slurry:

In a small mixing bowl (or a soup bowl as I realize we're using a lot of bowls here) combine the corn starch and about 3 tablespoons of water.

Stir to combine (you'll have to give it another stir just before you use it)

Blanch the Broccoli:

In a medium pot, bring water (enough to completely cover the broccoli, you can't do too much) to a boil

Add the broccoli to the pot and cook about 45 seconds to a minute

Remove from the pot and put in a large bowl of iced water to stop the cooking

Fry the Chicken:

Heat the wok on high

Add 3 cups oil, I use avocado oil. You want something with a high smoke point. (Please don't use vegetable oil. Google the history of vegetable oil. It is literally industrial waste and it's terrible for you)

As the wok is heating up, pour the batter in to the bowl with the chicken, mix to combine.

Once the oil reaches 325 degrees, start adding the chicken, one piece at a time to make sure the pieces don't stick to each other.

Let the chicken cook at least 90 seconds before touching it.

Cook for a total of about 2 and a half minutes and then start removing the cooked cooked chicken from the wok.

Continue until all of the chicken is cooked and set aside to cool off a bit.

Fry the chicken a second time. Yes, that's right. This will make the chicken less greasy once finished and will be more crispy.

The oil should be 375 degrees for the second fry.

Work in batches cooking the chicken for about 50-60 seconds and remove.

Turn off the heat and put the oil in a heat-resistant container. The oil can be strained and used again.

Wipe out any bits from the wok as you are going to use it again.

Cook the Sauce:

Add a tablespoon of oil to the wok over medium heat.

Add the minced garlic and chili peppers, cook for about 40 seconds

Pour in the sauce and stir constantly for about 45 seconds.

Turn the heat to low, add a little bit of the slurry you made (don't forget to give it a quick stir before adding), then stir to combine.

Cook for about a minute and see if you like the consistency. If you want it thicker, add more slurry. Too thick? Add a little water.

Once it's where you want it, turn off the heat and add the sesame oil, stir to combine.

Put it all together:

Add the fried chicken (along with any juices), bell peppers, red chili pepper, and broccoli, and mix well. (If you want the bell pepper cooked a little bit more, you could add the bell pepper with the garlic).

Give it a taste and then serve with some rice!