The chicken and mushroom stir-fry is an Americanized version of a Cantonese dish called Moo goo gai pan, or “Chicken with mushrooms and oyster sauce”.
Moo goo gai pan is essentially chicken with mushrooms, as well as other vegetables that can vary depending on who prepares it.
Compared to many Asian stir-fry options with breaded and fried meats and sweet sauces, moo goo gai pan is a much healthier alternative (relatively speaking, of course)
How to cut your chicken like in a Chinese restaurant?
When I order a chicken dish in a Chinese restaurant, the meat is always very thinly sliced and very tender, but at the time I had never figured out how to reproduce that at home. Fortunately, after some research, I realized that it’s actually quite easy to get thin and tender pieces of chicken in your own kitchen.
The first step to getting restaurant-style chicken is to cut your chicken into very thin slices. The easiest way to do this is to freeze the chicken breasts for about 20 minutes, or just until they firm up (they shouldn’t be frozen), but you want them to be hard enough to slice easily.
Now, slice your chicken against the grain (widthwise) into strips.
The ingredients for the chicken and mushroom stir-fry
There are two main parts to this recipe, the ingredients for the stir-fry and the ingredients for the sauce. It’s easy to make and I bet you probably already have many of the ingredients in your pantry (especially if you’re a regular on the site)
You can slice your chicken breasts into thin strips using the method described earlier. Remember that chicken breast meat is lean and can overcook quickly if you’re not careful. In fact, I even recommend using thighs, I personally love them.
The sauce ingredients for the chicken and mushroom stir-fry
The sauce and marinade are the most important parts of this recipe. It’s a light and flavorful sauce that only requires a small bowl and a whisk to prepare.
- Sesame oil: Be careful not to use too much. Sesame oil and its strong flavor can easily overpower the rest of the ingredients
- Chicken broth: homemade broth is better, but to save time buy ready-made
- Light soy sauce: This is the ordinary salty soy sauce found in supermarkets. Not to be confused with dark soy sauce
- Oyster sauce: No, it doesn’t taste like oysters but it gives a delicious flavor!
- Shaoxing wine: essential Chinese cooking wine for getting into Asian cuisine. Here’s how to substitute it
Ingredients
MARINADE
- 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine
- 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
- 350 g of diced chicken
VEGETABLES
- 250 g of sliced button mushrooms
- 2 slices of minced ginger
- 1 minced garlic clove
SAUCE
- 125 g of chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
Procédé
- Marinate the chicken for 20 minutes and mix the sauce well in a bowl
- In a pan over medium-high heat, with a little oil, sauté the chicken until it’s almost cooked. Set aside.
- Add a little more oil and sauté the garlic and ginger for 1 min.
- Add the mushrooms and sauté for 2 min
- Add the sauce and mix until thickened
- Return the chicken and mix for 1-2 minutes
Nutrition
Tips for the chicken and mushroom stir-fry
Don’t hesitate to turn up the heat to speed up thickening. If you do this, be sure to stir well as the risk of burning increases suddenly.
The sauce concept is the same for all sauces. Chinese white sauce, sweet and sour sauce, sweet and salty sauce, General Tso’s chicken sauce, garlic and honey chicken sauce, … all have one ingredient in common: cornstarch, it’s the secret to beautiful sticky Asian sauces
The only drawback of a sticky sauce is that the consistency doesn’t last. I’m sure you’ve ordered Chinese food before and found pieces of meat in a very watery sauce (in a bad way) the next day. That’s because cornstarch can only maintain its nice texture for about an hour at most.
What I usually do when something like this happens is to throw the leftovers into a pan and incorporate a little more cornstarch (once the ingredients are hot) to bring back the texture. Most of the time, it works, but there have been dishes that I couldn’t save this way. I’d say 80% success, 20% failure.
A very similar recipe that I love is chicken with hoisin sauce, it’s a bit lighter and looks great presentation-wise! Especially as an appetizer where you can arrange it in small lettuce leaves. Guests will truly feel like they’re at a restaurant!
