A quick midweek dinner Chinese chicken and potato

I first saw Kylie Kwong use potatoes on her Chinese cooking show one cold winters day curled up on the couch. I remember because I didnt ever think that the Chinese used potato but who says they cant?

The recipe called for potatoes, a little soya and brown sugar ,amongst other things, being frantically thrown into the wok by Kylie. The potatoes were browned, becoming a sweet sticky mess, as she retold her arrival story into the wee Chinese village she had found herself in. At the time I recall thinking I’m going to make that, meanwhile no matter how much I googled I couldn’t find it. Until I found this little beauty; the original inspiration of my attempt here.

I will admit it didn’t come about by looking up Kwongs brilliance, but instead by accident. Accident because I will often just google two ingredients, what I feel like i.e Asian, Italian and see what google aka the universe brings to me. This is despite I am ashamed to say having at least half the amazon forest in reicepe books sitting in my kitchen.

So I googled Chicken and potatoes late one afternoon somewhere between basketball and swim training in my usual unorgainsed mess. Knowing that I only had 500 grams of chicken and four potatoes, limited patience with a side of “Im starving mum”; viola I had Spicy Chinese Chicken Potatoes.

Even though it was incredibly tempting to go “hell with it lets get takeaway” I remembered Kylie Kwong in all her wok stir-frying potato glory. It was a little over twenty minutes to cook but I parboiled the potatoes in the microwave. Doing this made it a a quick midweek dinner idea.

The ingredient amounts are tripled from the original version and I have tried to make sure I have got it as close as possible. The stock, cornflour, mushrooms, and chicken were not in the original so you may need to add more or less of each. There isn’t a lot of sauce but if you want more just add adjust the recipe list again.

Chinese Chicken and potato. 

What you will need:

500gm of chiken breast or thighs which ever you have cut in cubes
4 potatoes, sliced
3 cups of chicken stock
2 tsp of corn flour
1/4 cup of soy sauce
100mm of rice vinegar
2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes or chilli powder
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
2 onion, sliced.

Optional mushrooms- I used dried soaked in hot water for a few minutes; I also used the water from the mushrooms.

How to:
Soak the potatoes in salted water for 5 minutes. Drain and pat dry. (It was it this stage I parboiled – around six minutes- and let cool while I got everything else ready)

Prepare the sauce: Whisk together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, corn flour and red pepper flakes with 4 tablespoon of water in a small bowl.

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok over high heat for 5 minutes, or until the oil is shim
mering. Add the potatoes and fry, turning every minute or so, until the potatoes are fork-tender (about 4 to 6 minutes). Remove the potatoes and add a little more oil. Add the chicken and fry until golden brown.

Add the garlic, onions, and chilli powder to the pan; saute for 60 seconds until the garlic is fragrant.
Return the potato to the pan and add stock (if adding mushrooms add now). Cook until the potato is tender then pour in the prepared sauce and toss well. Cook, turning the potatoes frequently, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the potatoes have soaked up some of the sauce.

Serve with rice.

Other quick midweek dinner ideas here and here. Enjoy.

xxDeb.