GardenCuizine Recipe: Chicken Veggie Wok Stir-fry over Ginger Brown Rice

Chicken Veggie Wok Stir-fryover Ginger Brown Rice

Wok vegetable Stir-fries are nutritious, quick and easy. They make delicious side dishes, without protein, or can easily become a main dish by adding poultry, meat, vegetarian tofu or tempeh, served over rice.

Wok cooking is best over high heat. High heat Wok cooking enables the food to be cooked quickly with little oil, sealing in the vitamins and nutrients. In addition, Wok cooking brings out fantastic flavors in the vegetables by caramelizing some of their natural sugars.

We use whatever veggies are in season from the garden and/or whatever is on hand. The oil used for a stir-fry should have a medium-high smoke point. Once cooking has begun, it is important to keep an eye on your Wok. You want the oil to heat up, but not get so hot that it smokes. At that point carcinogens are going into the air and free radicals into the oil.* The GardenCuizine recipe below uses hot Sesame oil and Canola, both have medium-high smoke points.
Yields 637g Serves: 3
This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled

Ingredients:
Protein of your choice. We used poultry, it could have been beef, pork, vegetarian tofu, seitan or tempeh.

• 1 full boneless, skinless chicken breast (2 half breasts) (ttl wgt 236g)
• 1 Tablespoon (28g) hot Sesame oil

Assorted Veggies of your choice and availability. We used:

• 1 medium Carrot (61g)
• 10 florets Broccoli (110g)
• 1 small Onion (70g)
• 1 small Zucchini (118g)
• 1 Tablespoon Canola oil
• 1 teaspoon (tsp) Lite Soy Sauce
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• fresh parsley or shiso leaves, chopped
  

Putting it all together:
Prep all your foods first. Stir-fry cooking goes pretty fast.

Cut the raw chicken into bite size pieces, set aside.

Wash hands and sanitize your work area.
Cut up all the vegetables into bite size slices and florets.

Carrots and broccoli will not cook enough just by stir-frying; precook them first in the microwave or by heating a little water in the Wok to boiling, add veggies and cook them halfway. Do not use too much water or the water soluble vitamins will be lost when you pour the excess down the drain. Remove the carrots and broccoli, set aside. Drain the excess liquid (or you can save it for soup stock or for use when cooking rice and grains).

Cook the protein: heat the Wok on medium-high to dry thoroughly. Add the sesame oil. Stir-fry the chicken (or other protein) being careful not to overcook as the protein will get added back to the dish before serving to reheat. Using a spatula or tongs, remove the chicken to a plate and set aside. Do not wash the Wok.

Stir-fry the vegetables: add a small amount of Canola oil* to the wok over high heat, as soon as it heats up add the garlic and ginger. When cooked, push the veggies up the side of the Wok, making a well in the center for the chicken.

Add the chicken. Gently stir the chicken to heat, then stir all ingredients together to combine.
Serve over brown rice.
Garnish with a generous sprinkling of fresh chopped parsley or shiso leaves.

GardenCuizine Nutrition Analysis: calculated from USDA nutrient values
Chicken Veggie Stir-fry, 1/3 of recipe
Good source: Potassium, Riboflavin, Folate, Magnesium
Excellent source: Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Phosphorus, Selenium
 
Serving size: 212g, Calories: 242, Calories from Fat: 132, Total Fat 15g (23%DV), Saturated Fat: 2g(10%DV), Trans Fat: 0g, Cholesterol: 46mg (15%DV), Sodium 138mg (6%DV), Potassium: 526mg (15%DV), Total Carbohydrate: 8g (3%DV), Dietary Fiber: 1g (6%DV), Protein: 20g (40%DV), Vitamin A: 4593IU (92%DV), Vitamin C: 45mg (75%DV), Riboflavin: 0.2mg (11%DV), Niacin: 9.5mg (47%DV), Vitamin B6: 0.6mg (32%DV), Folate: 49mcg (12%DV), Phosphorus 208mg (21%DV), Magnesium: 43mg (11%DV), Selenium: 15mcg (22%DV)

***

Ginger Brown Rice: two parts water to one part rice (2:1 water to rice ratio)
Yields 692g, Serves 3-4

2 cups water (veggie broth or chicken broth)1 cup brown rice
2 Tablespoons onion, chopped
1 Tablespoon minced ginger
Seasonings: your choice: We vary what we use -- always omitting or using very little salt and usually adding one hot chiltepin pepper along w/fresh ground black pepper

In a Corningware pot or pot with a tight fitting lid, saute onion in oil until it becomes translucent not brown, add the ginger, rice and seasoning (chiltepin pepper, black pepper, curry powder, coriander or whatever herbs and spices you like to cook with). Stir to combine. Add the water, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook until all the water is absorbed.

GardenCuizine Nutrition Analysis: calculated from USDA nutrient values
Brown Rice, no salt
Source: Dietary Fiber
Good source: Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Magnesium, and Selenium
Excellent source: Manganese

Serving size 1/4 recipe (173g), Calories:203 (10%DV), Calories from Fat:41, Total Fat:5g(7%DV), Saturated Fat: 1g(4%DV), Trans Fat: 0g, Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 8mg (0%DV), Total Carbohydrate 36g (12%DV), Dietary Fiber 2g (7%DV), Calcium: 15mg (2%DV), Iron: (4%DV), Thiamin 0.2mg (13%DV), Niacin: 2.4mg (12%DV), Vitamin B6: 0.2mg (12%DV), Magnesium 68mg (17%DV), Manganese: 1.7mg (87%DV), Selenium: 11mcg (15%DV)

Percent Daily Values (%DV) are based on a caloric intake of 2,000 calories for adults and children age 4 or older

*Related Links:
Kitchen Guide about Smoke points and Oils
The New York Times Wok Recipes


Photos and recipe Copyright (c) 2009 Wind. All rights reserved.