Chicken and Rice: Chicken Stir Fry

What's stir fry?  It's actually a cooking technique.  Well, two cooking techniques.  You're cooking meat and vegetables very fast at very high heat so the food retains its nutrients and textures.  You can make a huge variety of dishes by changing the sauces or the food combinations.  In my house it's "something we can make cheap and eat with chop sticks".  Crystal and her fans from Adventures in Bento Making may chuckle at me when they see this, because I cheat so much on stir fry!  I did learn to do proper stir fry in cooking classes a couple decades ago, really I did! 

I find stir fry great for using up any kind of leftover meat.  If you are using raw meat cook it first, stir frying it and removing it from the pan before you cook your vegetables. 


If I'm using frozen vegetables I always thaw the vegetables first, no matter what the package says. I find it takes the dense vegetables much longer to cook than the others and what you end up with is mushy, soggy vegetables.  So in the winter when it's cheaper to buy a frozen stir-fry mix I always let them thaw first.  If you're using raw veggies start with the most dense ones and end with the delicate ones (like mushrooms).

I also use bottled sauce.  My two favorites are Kikkoman Stir Fry Sauce and La Choy Orange Ginger.

Chicken Stir Fry
2 tbsp oil
2 cups cooked chicken, cut bite-sized
2 14-oz or 1 28-oz bags of Bird's Eye Ultimate Stir Fry Vegetables, thawed
1/4 - 1/2 cup Stir Fry sauce

In a hot skillet or wok, heat the oil. Stir fry the vegetables until almost hot.  Add chicken.  Add sauce to taste.  Stir fry two minutes to coat everything in sauce and remove from heat.  Serve over rice.

Kiddo is still working on the chop sticks.