Chicken and Broccoli, Simplified

For this dish, I was using up leftovers. I had a large chicken breast leftover from a package and some steamed  broccoli (otherwise unseasoned).  

This is a dish where velveted chicken is a nice touch. Velveting is related to passing through oil in that a lower temp oil blanching is done, but the other half of the technique is the egg white and cornstarch marinade. Those ingredients provide a buffer from the hot oil and let the meat cook with a tender texture, thus the term velveting.


Marinade for Velveting

1 egg white
generous pinch of ground white pepper 
generous pinch of sugar
teaspoon of corn starch 

Whisk to combine the marinade ingredients. The corn starch will clump so be thorough in the mixing. 

1 large chicken breast, about 8 oz, sliced thinly

An almost frozen chicken breast is more easily sliced thinly. But a sharp knife is more essential in my opinion. This breast was sliced straight from the refrigerator.

Add the sliced chicken breast to the marinade. Let marinade about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the broccoli and aromatics. 


1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 - 2 cups steamed broccoli florets cut into bite size pieces
3-4 tablespoons oyster sauce

 Heat 1 1/2 - 2 cups of oil to about 275 for the velveting of the chicken. If you're using  flat bottomed wok, you'll need at least 2 cups of oil, maybe 2 1/2.

When the oil is at temperature you get a lazy stream of bubbles coming up from a wooden or bamboo chopstick in the oil. 

Stir the chicken in the marinade to loosen it up. You don't want it to cook into a solid mass in the oil blanching. Add half the chicken to the hot oil. Stir immediately with chopsticks or tongs to separate the strips of chicken into separate pieces.  Cook just until all the pinkness is gone, 30-45 seconds. Remove the chicken and let drain well. Let the oil reheat for a few minutes and repeat with the last batch of the chicken.

Pour the hot oil into a heat proof container. I usually use a small saucepan on the stove and pour the oil through a fine strainer to catch any small bits of meat or marinade.

Wipe out the wok of excess oil. You can leave about a tablespoon worth in the lower third of the wok or wipe clean and add a tablespoon of fresh oil when the wok is hot for stir frying. When cool, you can pour into a jar and cap for using a few more times for deep frying or passing through oil.

Because the chicken is half cooked, the broccoli only needs reheating, the cooking will be quite rapid. Have everything you need at the ready.

With the wok hot and the oil added, add the velveted chicken to the wok. Stir fry for about 90 seconds to finish cooking the chicken. Add the aromatics and broccoli, stir fry another 2 minutes or so to bring the brocolli to temperature and infuse it with the garlic and ginger flavor. Lastly add the oyster sauce to give just a light sheen to the chicken. Serve immediately.

If you're working with raw broccoli, then stir fry them first for about 90 seconds. Add 2 tablespoons rice wine, cover and let steam for about another 90 seconds. Then add the aromatics and chicken. Stir fry until the chicken is one, another minute or two and season with oyster sauce.

Certainly other versions of the dish abound with a more complicated sauce usually and often without the velveted chicken. They can be very good too.

Here, however, I'm showing that leftovers from other meals can convert into a good chinese dish quite simply. This way of looking at leftovers will help you cook more economically and with greater variety.