Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Bumper Crop of Chives Equals Stir Fry

We have so much chives growing in the back yard, I don't know what to do with it all. So, on a search of recipes that use a lot of chives, I came across this stir fry recipe in Taste of Home.  I'm a big stir fry fan, so this was great.  Stir fry, of course, is very flexible as far as recipes go.  If you only have one can of mandarin oranges, great, just use one can. If you only have oranges, go ahead, peel and cut them up.  It's the sauce/coating part that is the real bare bones of the recipe.  Given that it uses soy sauce and teriyaki sauce, this recipe is not low salt, but is so much yummier than soy sauce alone!  What was interesting was that the recipe creator mentioned using either celery or bok choy.  Bok choy is a lot less expensive than celery and (I discovered) cooks more quickly.  Winner.

Changes to the recipe.  I am posting what I did because I altered the original recipe.  I used a lot more bok choy (it cooks down) and a little more chives. The original recipe called for 1/4 cup of chicken broth - no idea why.  It would have been drippy given that there is no thickener.  This recipe wouldn't hurt to have yet another 1/2 cup of chopped bok choy.

Recipe from Taste of Home Annual Recipes 2010 from Aysha Schurman, Ammon Idaho

Orange-Cashew Chicken and Rice

2 cups cooked rice (your choice)
2 (11 oz.) cans mandarin oranges (juice or lite syrup)
1/2 cup chopped cashews
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
1 pound chicken, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 cups chopped bok choy
1/2 cup minced chives

Cook the rice. Set aside.
Drain mandarin oranges, reserving 3 tablespoons juice (save the rest for something else).

In a small bowl, combine the cashews, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and reserved juice; set aside in a large wok or skillet, stir fry chicken in oil until no longer pink. Add cashew mixture, cook 1 minute longer. Add the bok choy, chives and reserved oranges, cook and stir for 2 minutes.

Fluff the rice with fork, serve with chicken mixture. Yield: 4 servings

Here is a link to the original recipe.  Serves 3.