The Chinese way

Kandla Nijhowne

When a dish comes with an interesting name, it literally and definitely arouses interest. Such is the story of Moo Goo Gai Pan. As a student in England, I stumbled across this creation at a popular Chinese restaurant. I ordered it, simply because the name aroused extreme curiosity. It is essentially a stir fried chicken with an intriguing name but the magic lies in the combination of vegetables that play the secondary roles here. Once the prepping is out of the way, it's easy and quick from pan to platter.

Moo Goo Gai Pan: The ingredients 

• 540-560 gm boneless chicken, cut into chunks ( 3 chicken breasts)
• 3- 3½ tbsp oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, squashed
• 4 slices fresh ginger
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 ½ tbsp cornflour
• 300 gm mushrooms, sliced thickly
• 200 gm snow peas or sliced spring onions
• 150-200 chestnuts (singhara) roughly chopped
• 150 gm bamboo shoots
• 1 cup each broccoli florets and carrots, cut into thin sticks
• Salt, pepper and soy sauce to taste
•  

Method

• Heat a deep pan, pour and swirl the oil around its inner sides.
• Add ginger and garlic, sauté till slightly browned, then add the diced chicken pieces.
• Stir fry the chicken for 4-5 minutes, then tip all the prepped veggies into the pan.
• Cook briefly but do not make them mushy.
• Mix the cornflour with the stock and pour into the pan along with some salt, soy sauce and pepper.
• Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, then check seasoning.
• Remove and discard the ginger and garlic pieces, then serve the chicken on a bed of fluffy steamed rice.

Note: The ginger and garlic are kept chunky in this dish to ease their removal. If you personally prefer a sharp punch of flavour, chop them small and let them be served within the gravy.

(Nijhowne is a Chandigarh-based culinary expert)