Our mid-week dinner ~ a simple Asian stir fry of chicken, salted fish, and bok choy. I realized most of my stir fries had pork fillet as their main ingredient, so i decided to feature chicken fillet as the star ingredient for this stir fry this time round. In Chinese cooking, the pairing of salted fish with chicken is no surprise, somehow the flavours of both complement each other really well, with the salted fish adding flavour to the rather plain tasting and rough textured chicken fillet (
usually not as tender and soft as pork fillet) and making the sometimes unappetizing chicken breast fillet tastier and more appealing to your palate. Salted fish isnt exactly a healthy ingredient because it's packed to its brims with salt; hence in part to transform this dish into a healthier meal, and in part to beautify the dish a little, i decided to throw in the stems of a large bunch of bok choy (
i used the leaves of the bok choy in my previous dish, fish soup!).
Some simple steps/instructions:
1. Chop up chicken fillet pieces into medium-sized chunks (cube-like). Marinate with a little peanut oil, a few drops of sesame oil, some sprinkling of salt and sugar, some cracked black pepper and a few dashes of maggi sauce. (Note: Marinate for at least half hour/overnight)
2. Whilst the chicken is being marinated, chop up bok choy stems slant-wise/diagonally, so that it has some shape (makes the dish look less boring). Rinse well under running water and then place in vegetable drainer and drain the water from the vegetables. Set aside.
3. Cut up salted fish slices into small pieces. Set aside.
4. Flatten 1 garlic clove and then cut the clove into half. Set aside.
5. Heat peanut oil in wok (Note: I love to use peanut oil because it makes the dish more fragrant and leaves a faint peanutbuttery taste in the food). Throw in the garlic and saute for a minute or two/before the garlic is burnt.
6. Throw in salted fish and fry with the garlic until salted fish turns slightly white/crispy.
7. Add in the bok choy stems and give it a good stir-fry at high heat.
8. When the bok choy stems are 85% cooked, add in the chicken chunks and give it a good mix/stir-fry, still at high heat. Continue to stir/mix until chicken is 90% cooked through. Add in few teaspoons of water, a teaspoon at a time, and with the addition of each teaspoon of water, remember to give it a good stir again. Refrain from allowing too much water to accumulate; too much water will make the dish alittle too watery. I like my dishes without too much gravy/water.
9. When cooking is completed, dish out onto plate and serve with rice!
