Ching’s 3-cup chicken

Ching He Huang is a master of quick-cook Chinese food and this dish is based on one of my favourite recipes of hers. The ‘3 cup’ element refers to the soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil that are added to the chicken in this traditional Taiwanese dish.

Credit: Donal's Meals in Minutes

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 3 tsp cornflour
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 500 g skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3 tsp sunflower oil
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 3 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 red chilli, thinly sliced
• 1 green capsicum (pepper), cut into bite-sized pieces
• 75 ml Chinese rice wine
• 75 ml reduced salt soy sauce
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp (45 ml) sesame oil
• 1½ tbsp brown sugar
• 250 g bok choy, halved or quartered
• 2  250 g packets of ready-cooked rice, warmed

Instructions

1. Put the cornflour and pepper into a bowl and season with a pinch of salt. Add the chicken pieces and toss to coat them and then set aside.
2. Place the wok over a medium-high heat and add the oil. Once the pan is smoking, fry the garlic, ginger and chilli for a minute or 2 before adding the chicken and capsicum. Leave for 30 seconds to seal the meat then quickly move around the pan.
3. Add the rice wine and cook for a couple of minutes before adding the soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar. Cook for a further 5 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken.
4. Add the bok choy and cook until it is just tender, about 1–2 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked through, serve with warmed rice.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.