My sister used to enjoy this dish at a small Chinese restaurant on 47th Street, just steps away from Times Square. It has since closed and the new incarnation on 42nd Street is not the same. I've wanted to duplicate the recipe at home and when I found myself with chicken breast looking for a recipe today that's what I did. To my surprise the dish, but cooked with shrimp rather than chicken breast, was in Irene Kuo's 1977 book, The Key to Chinese Cooking, one of my first "bibles" in Chinese cooking. I heavily modified the recipe to use with chicken but basically used the ingredients she recommended, except that I substituted chicken breast for the shrimp.
Slice half a chicken breast into 3/4 inch chunks and set aside. Snap off tough ends of 12 asparagus stalks and cut into 2-inch lengths. Chop two quarter-sized, peeled ginger, mince one peeled garlic segment, chop 1 Tb. scallion, green part. Now, heat wok over high heat. Pour in 1 Tb. of canola oil and when hot quickly stirfry garlic and ginger, careful not to burn them. Throw in chicken and cook until inside is no longer pink, about 1 1/2 minutes. Take out chicken and set aside. In remaining oil, add asparagus, 1/4 C. hot water, 1/2 Tb. crumbled Chinese dried hot peppers, a pinch of sugar, soy sauce (light would give nicer appearance, closer to what we had in NYC) and black pepper to taste. Cover and cook for a minute. Throw chicken back in, remove from heat. Mix in 3/4 Tb. sesame oil, top with chopped scallions and serve with rice. I like to sop up the juices in the wok with rice, throw in chopped scallions, for quick fried rice.
My sister used to enjoy this dish at a small Chinese restaurant on 47th Street, just steps away from Times Square. It has since closed and the new incarnation on 42nd Street is not the same. I've wanted to duplicate the recipe at home and when I found myself with chicken breast looking for a recipe today that's what I did. To my surprise the dish, but cooked with shrimp rather than chicken breast, was in Irene Kuo's 1977 book, The Key to Chinese Cooking, one of my first "bibles" in Chinese cooking. I heavily modified the recipe to use with chicken but basically used the ingredients she recommended, except that I substituted chicken breast for the shrimp.
Slice half a chicken breast into 3/4 inch chunks and set aside. Snap off tough ends of 12 asparagus stalks and cut into 2-inch lengths. Chop two quarter-sized, peeled ginger, mince one peeled garlic segment, chop 1 Tb. scallion, green part. Now, heat wok over high heat. Pour in 1 Tb. of canola oil and when hot quickly stirfry garlic and ginger, careful not to burn them. Throw in chicken and cook until inside is no longer pink, about 1 1/2 minutes. Take out chicken and set aside. In remaining oil, add asparagus, 1/4 C. hot water, 1/2 Tb. crumbled Chinese dried hot peppers, a pinch of sugar, soy sauce (light would give nicer appearance, closer to what we had in NYC) and black pepper to taste. Cover and cook for a minute. Throw chicken back in, remove from heat. Mix in 3/4 Tb. sesame oil, top with chopped scallions and serve with rice. I like to sop up the juices in the wok with rice, throw in chopped scallions, for quick fried rice.
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