10 – minute stir fried chicken, quail eggs and vegetables

We were at the supermarket yesterday for another week’s supply of food and more food. It hasn’t even been a week since the last trip to the supermarket but the freezer was almost empty yesterday. When the cart was full, my husband asked if I thought all of that stuff would last for two weeks. I said, “Are you kidding? Food consumption is high during vacations.” He smiled wanly and wondered why he couldn’t have his vacation at the same time as the kids’. Well, I have a solution to that. Quit working for strangers and start blogging.

So, anyway, I discovered something new in the supermarket. Since the kids have to have their weekly dose of chicken, I checked the freezers for chicken thigh fillets. They were there but there was a new item — chicken leg fillets with the skin on. Okay, we’re real fans of Magnolia’s chicken thigh fillets. They are so great for cooking stir fries. A lot of people think that when you say chicken meat fillets, it inevitably refers to the breast meat but that’s not true. Chicken thigh fillets are widely available. My only complaint is that they are skinless. I like chicken skin even with my stir fries. So, when I saw the chicken leg fillets with the skin on, I ignored the skinless chicken thigh fillets.

There were three large whole fillets in the tray — too much for one stir-fried dish. What I did was to marinate two fillets in soy sauce and wine which I will cook as chicken teriyaki later. Then I cut the remaining fillet into thin strips for the stir-fry.

I don’t add the traditional starch solution to my stir fried dishes these days. I used to all the time but, for some reason, these days I prefer simpler and lighter stir fries. More a la Japanese than a la Chinese. I don’t even add oyster sauce all that much either. The stir fried dish you see in the photo was seasoned with nothing but soy sauce and it was great. Uncomplicated flavors, simple to prepare but a dish that the taste buds will nevertheless appreciate. Of course, it helps that everyone in my family loves Kikkoman.

This dish cooks in 10 minutes IF you have all the ingredients prepared.

This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients :

about 150 grams of chicken fillet (breast, thigh or leg), skin on or skinless, it’s your choice
1 whole head of garlic (you can do with half but I love strong garlicky flavor)
1 large white onion or 2 shallots
12 pieces of baguio beans
1 medium-sized carrot
hard-boil quail eggs, as many as you like, shelled
about 12 pieces of baby corn
light soy sauce (I used Kikkoman)
3-4 tbsps. of vegetable cooking oil
freshly-ground black pepper

Cooking procedure :

Cut the chicken meat into thin strips, place in a bowl and pour in about 1/4 cup of light soy sauce. Mix well and leave to marinate while you prepare the vegetables.

Crush, peel and finely chop the garlic. It’s easier to peel garlic if you crush it first.

Thinly slice the onion or shallots.

Peel the carrot and cut into half-inch cubes. Or, if you feel up to it, you can cut them into florets, the way they do in Chinese restaurants.

Trim the ends and edges of the Baguio beans then cut into half-inch lengths. You don’t have to cut them diagonally — I don’t understand the insistence of many Filipino cooks that Baguio beans can only be cut diagonally.

If the baby corns are rather large, you can cut them into two to three portions.

Heat the cooking oil in a wok or frying pan. Make sure that the heat is on high. Strain the chicken and add to the hot oil. Stir fry for about thirty seconds then add the garlic. Stir a few times then add the onion or shallots, carrot cubes and Baguio Beans. Cook, stirring, for about two minutes. Add the corn and cook for another two to three minutes. Add the hard-boiled quail eggs and pour in the soy sauce in which the chicken was marinated. Stir fry for another minute. Taste and add more soy sauce if you prefer. Add plenty of freshly ground black pepper, stir a few more times then turn off the heat.

Serve at once.