Szechuan Chicken
This recipe may look complicated because it has a lot of ingredients, but it’s not. You can prepare the whole dish in the time it takes to cook the rice. I use water chestnuts and pea pods in the recipe, but this is one of those dishes where just about any vegetables you happen to have in the refrigerator will work fine.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
Rice
Chicken
Preparation
Step 1
To prepare the rice: Place the water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the rice, cover, and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes, or until all of the water is absorbed.
Step 2
To prepare the chicken: Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes. Place the chicken in a bowl, add the cornstarch, and toss until coated. Peel the garlic, finely chop, and add to the bowl with the chicken. Trim the green onions, discarding the ends, and slice the white and about 2 inches of the green part into 1/2-inch pieces on the diagonal. Set aside.
Step 3
Coat a large sauté pan with cooking spray and place over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add the bouillon, soy sauce, vinegar, water, and sugar and stir well. Cover and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. (Cut into one of the pieces to make sure there is no pink inside.) Add the green onion, pea pods, water chestnuts, and crushed red pepper and cook, uncovered, for 2 minutes, or until the onions just begin to wilt.
Step 4
Place some of the rice in the center of each plate, top with some of the chicken mixture, and serve immediately.
VEG OUT
Step 5
Although you could just substitute vegetable bouillon for the chicken bouillon and extra vegetables for the chicken, I think this is better if you substitute tofu for the chicken. The tofu will absorb some of the heat from the sauce and is really tasty.
