Many years ago, the cooking magazine bon appétit published this recipe. It appeared in The Best of…. It quickly became our favorite in that book and we have cooked that recipe many times over the past 35 years or so. We changed it slightly, of course. Here is our version. A couple of things are noteworthy. According to the book, this would serve eight people. It might serve six but I doubt it. Yes, it tastes that good. You can use other nuts, but the best nuts are actually black walnuts, if you can get them. We happen to have a black walnut tree in our backyard, but I realize not everyone is that lucky. Don't use pecans, the flavor isn't strong enough. Yes, we have one of those trees as well.
I don't think this is authentically Chinese, but it is vaguely reminiscent of Chinese food and it is very good.
Chinese walnut
chicken
Nominally eight
servings, but it isn't really
2 teaspoons
cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
two egg whites
three large whole
chicken breasts, skinned, boned and cut into 1-inch cubes
three-quarter cup
soy sauce
1/4 cup bourbon
2 teaspoons sugar
8 tablespoons oil
six green onions,
cut into 2 inch slivers, including stems
five slices fresh
ginger root minced
two or three garlic
cloves minced
1 1/2 cups chopped
walnuts
Rice
Mix together
cornstarch, water and egg white. Add chicken and toss until
thoroughly coated.
In small bowl
combine soy sauce, bourbon and sugar.
Heat skillet or wok
and add 2 tablespoons oil. Stirfry chicken for about 3 to 5 minutes
or until completely cooked. Remove from pan.
Add remaining oil to
pan and stirfry onions ginger and garlic 1 minute. Return chicken to
pan and continue cooking one minute. Add soy bourbon mixture and cook
quickly until sauce thickens. Stir in walnuts. Serve with rice.
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