A few minutes is all the chicken needs in Delia Smith’s Chinese chicken stir-fry, tossed in a very hot wok with broccoli, shiitake mushrooms and toasted cashew nuts. The strips sit in cornflour, five-spice and soy for half an hour first, and it feeds 2 or 3 over rice noodles or rice.
Among the winter recipes in The Delia Collection: Chicken (2003), it goes by the name of Oriental stir-fry. One is Fun has a smaller Chinese version for one, and that recipe is written out further down.
It needs a wok or a very large frying pan with a lid, and she suggests keeping a kitchen timer handy for all the quick stages. Any broccoli left over from the head is what I’d put in her broccoli soup with Stilton.
The chicken comes out crisp at the edges, the broccoli still bright and crunchy, with salty soy, warm ginger and the sweet crunch of cashews.
Delia Smith’s Oriental Chicken Stir-fry with Broccoli and Cashew Nuts
Course: DinnerCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Easy3
servings30
minutes15
minutes600
kcalStrips of chicken coated in cornflour and five-spice, fried in two batches and finished with sliced broccoli, mushrooms, ginger, toasted cashews and a rice wine glaze.
Ingredients
- For the chicken:
3 skinless chicken breasts, about 450g (1lb) in all
1 heaped tablespoon cornflour
½ teaspoon five-spice powder
2 dessertspoons Japanese soy sauce
- For the stir-fry:
3 tablespoons groundnut or other flavourless oil
110g (4oz) cashew nuts
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, peeled and grated
110g (4oz) shiitake mushrooms
110g (4oz) broccoli florets
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons rice wine or dry sherry, mixed with 2 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
Directions
- Coat: Cut the chicken into strips about 5mm x 5cm (¼ x 2in). Toss them in a large bowl with the cornflour and five-spice until evenly coated, then sprinkle in the soy, toss again, cover and leave for 30 minutes.
- Prepare: Meanwhile, slice the shiitake thinly. Cut the broccoli heads into thin slices and the stalks into very thin diagonal slices. Chop the white part of the spring onions small and cut the green part into very thin shreds.
- Cashews: Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in the wok until it’s very hot and fry the cashews for 45 to 60 seconds, keeping them moving, until golden brown. Lift them out with a slotted spoon.
- Chicken: Add another tablespoon of oil and, over a high heat, stir-fry the chicken in two batches for 2 to 3 minutes each, until it’s crisp and cooked through. Keep it warm on a plate.
- Aromatics: Add the last tablespoon of oil, turn the heat to medium and stir-fry the onion, garlic and ginger for about 2 minutes.
- Vegetables: Turn the heat back up to high, add the mushrooms and broccoli and stir-fry them for 1 minute, tossing them so every side meets the heat.
- Finish: Return the chicken and cashews, season with the salt and pour in the rice wine and soy. Turn the heat down to medium, add the chopped white spring onion, cover and cook for just 1 minute.
- Serve: Serve straight away on rice noodles or plain steamed rice, with the shredded green spring onion sprinkled over.
Notes
- If you can't find shiitake, she says any other mushroom will do, and sliced sugar snaps can stand in for the broccoli.
- Cut open one of the thickest strips after the first batch to check it's white all the way through, and 75°C on a probe is my own extra check.
FAQs
How do I make Delia’s Chinese chicken stir-fry for one?
Use her One is Fun recipe, Chinese Stir-fried Chicken with Broccoli and Mushrooms. You need 1 small skinned chicken breast of about 175g, 40g of broccoli florets and 75g of mushrooms sliced through the stalks. Add a dessertspoon each of cornflour and soy, a small onion, a garlic clove, a teaspoon of grated ginger and 2 spring onions.
Cut the chicken into small pieces, coat them in the cornflour and then the soy, and leave them for 30 minutes. Stir-fry them in a tablespoon of very hot oil in an 18cm frying pan for about 2 minutes, then lift them out. Cook the chopped onion with the garlic and ginger in another half tablespoon of oil for 2 minutes.
Add the broccoli, mushrooms and ½ teaspoon of salt and stir-fry them over a high heat for a minute. Put the chicken back over a medium heat, pour in 2 tablespoons of sherry mixed with 1 of water, add half the spring onion and cover for a minute. Serve it at once with the rest of the spring onion over the top.
Why fry the chicken in two batches?
So it fries instead of steaming. Her casserole notes in the Complete Cookery Course warn never to crowd the pan, because the steam leaves meat damp and it won’t brown.
The same goes for a wok, to my mind. A big heap of chicken cools the oil, and you end up with pale, soft strips rather than crisp ones.
How do I stop it overcooking?
Keep it fast and trust the timings. In One is Fun she points out that Chinese-style dishes are made at top speed, and that cooks in the West tend to add a little extra time and end up with something slightly overdone.
The broccoli should still be bright green and crunchy when it goes on the plate. She adds that after you’ve made it a few times you’ll get the bite and crispness just right.
What’s in five-spice powder?
Five spices, as the name says. Her Winter Collection lists them as star anise, fagara, cassia, fennel seed and cloves.
The same page describes the Japanese soy she likes as traditionally matured, made with nothing but roasted wheat, soy beans, water and salt. Look for that on the label of a good Japanese brand.
Should I serve it with rice noodles or rice?
Either, as she says, though rice noodles are the quicker choice. Her Winter Collection notes they need no cooking at all, just soaking.
Put them in hot water before you start the stir-fry and they’ll be ready by the time it is, my own timing. Steamed rice wants starting earlier, as it takes longer than the stir-fry itself.
