Recipe for :

This is one of the recipes from Mrs Susie. If you want to find out more about her have a look at her biography page which she has written. Mrs Susie specialises in Oriental cooking. An important first step in Oriental cooking (which I think is important) is at the end of each recipe.

"A dish fit for a general is certainly good enough for me. The usual way to make this dish is to deep-fry the chicken. Personally, I prefer stir-frying for a lighter fare. With the rich and flavorful sauce, it's sure to be your favorite chicken dish as well".

Ingredients

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces

Marinade:
3 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1½ tablespoons oyster-flavored sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Sauce:
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon regular soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons cooking oil
6 small dried red chilies
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons minced ginger
2 green onions, cut into 1-inch lengths
1/2 teaspoon crushed dried red chilies
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Method

Preparation:

• Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl. Place chicken in marinade and turn to coat. Let stand for 10 minutes.

• Combine sauce ingredients in a bowl.

Cooking:

• Place a wok over high heat until hot. Add oil, swirling to coat sides. Add chilies and stir-fry for 10 seconds. Add chicken and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, green onions, and crushed chilies; stir-fry for 1 minute.

• Add sauce and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add cornstarch solution and cook, stirring, until sauce boils and thickens.

• Place chicken on a serving plate and sprinkle with peanuts

Serves 4

Enjoy!
Mrs Susie

"I have studied oriental cooking quite a bit and the one thing that makes it different from other styles of cooking is: it is 90% preparation and 10% cooking. It is very important to have everything in the recipe already prepared for cooking before you start cooking.

I take a plate and cut up my ingredients as called for in the recipe and place them on different parts of the plate. Only then do I think about cooking. I will put my oil in the pan and, as the things are called for in the recipe, I will sweep them into whatever pan I am cooking with, cook for as long as called for, then add the next ingredient.

Oriental cooking happens so fast. To stop and cut up the garlic (for example) if I had the ginger cooking in the pan would result in burnt ginger before the garlic is finished.

When I am cooking a ten or fifteen course dinner you should see my kitchen. I have plates all over and all my sauces mixed in bowls and everything is ready to cook before I start cooking. This is the right way to do it and necessary to have a well-timed dinner.

Another thing, get yourself a good cleaver that will not rust. You will be surprised how much you will use this for all your cooking, not just oriental cooking. Do yourself a favor and get a good one. I think I paid $20 for mine but again that was 20 years ago".