Chicken Stir Fry with Black Bean Sauce

I go for simple almost every time. Not fast food or other take outs, or frozen entrees or sandwiches. For me, simple is anything which can be prepared with a minimal number of ingredients. Chicken Stir Fry with Black Bean Sauce is one such recipe.

Not only simple to make, but also it only takes minutes to cut up the veggies and chicken and a few minutes more for cooking. I made this recipe to serve one--that’s me! For more servings, increase the amounts of chicken and veggies. Only use as much olive oil as is needed to cook the meat so for more servings you shouldn’t need much more olive oil. As for the Black Bean Sauce, I’d add a bit at a time when increasing the recipe, tasting along the way till you get it the way you like.



Chicken Stir Fry with Black Bean Sauce

Ingredients...
4-6 ounces skinless/boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 medium potato, skin on and cut into strips
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 cup chopped broccoli
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon Tamari Sauce
1/4 teaspoon Black Bean Sauce



Directions...
1. Prepare and lay out all ingredients.

2. Preheat EVOO in wok over medium heat.

3. Mix chicken with Tamari Sauce and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring gently all the while. These are small pieces and won’t take long, not even if you are increasing the number of servings.


4. Remove chicken from wok, leaving juices in the pan.


5. Add about 1/3 cup water to the wok and bring just to a boil. Turn burner down to low.

6. Place veggies in steamer basket. Sprinkle with tiny bit of salt and pepper. More can be added later when you eat, but go easy now. Place the steamer basket in the wok and cover.


7. Cook 4-6 minutes then test a potato and a broccoli stalk. If not yet done to your liking, cook a minute or two longer, then test again.

8. Remove veggies from wok. Return chicken to wok along with Black Bean Sauce. Heat for one minute, stirring constantly.

9. Plate the chicken and the vegetables. Spoon drippings from wok over all.


Some people will want rice with their stir fry. That’s fine and you can leave the potatoes in the recipe or leave them out.

There you have it, a quick and easy Chicken Stir Fry with Black Bean Sauce.

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Stir fry salad

Many of my meals are invented on the spot. When I notice it's time to eat, I check the refrigerator, the freezer and the cupboards. It's like a clothing closet, when you think you have nothing to wear. Experiment, mix and match, see what you can come up with.

A couple of days ago, I made this Stir Fry Salad. It's simple, really, so I won't give you a long, complicated recipe. Only one photo today, but in the future, there will be more for each entry.

The base of this dish is mixed greens. Earlier in the summer, I would have used mesclun from my garden. Sadly, I note that the mesclun is all used up and I truly miss having it fresh each day. You can use your favorite lettuce. Or uncooked spinach. Or any mixture of greens.

I stir-fried zucchini slices, green beans and scallion slices in a bit of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) in a wok. Toward the end of the cooking, I added a quick splash each of sesame oil and Tamari sauce. On another day, I might have used plain soy sauce in place of tamari. If I'd added meat, I might have used Worcestershire.

After placing the stir-fried veggies on the greens, I added some tomato chunks. There was a small amount of salmon left over from the previous night's meal, so I broke it up and added it to the salad. Wish I'd remembered I had olives in the frig; they would have been a nice addition, as would artichoke hearts if I had them.

I drizzled the whole thing with a small amount of EVOO. So easy. So delicious. So filling.


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