One of Cole’s and my favorite restaurants in this whole world in Samoeun’s Happy Wok in Plover, Wisconsin. If you are looking for someone who is the master of making authentic sauces for stir fry, they have it figured out. We go there every single time that we travel to visit my parents. Seriously, some of the best food you will ever eat. After going there a couple of times, I was determined to try my best to replicate their Sweet Hot Chicken Stir Fry. While I am nowhere close to as skilled as the chefs at Happy Wok, this dish is my best attempt at replicating it, and it tides Cole and I over while we eagerly await our next visit to Plover. I’ve included two different options for flavoring the sauce, depending on whether you prefer a mild or spicier version of the dish.
Ingredients
Sauce – Mild
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 ½ tsp Minced Garlic
½ cup Honey
⅓ cup Soy Sauce
⅔ cup Ketchup
2 ½ tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
4 tsp Sriracha Sauce
¼ tsp Ground Ginger
3 Whole Dried Red Chili Peppers
Sauce – Spicy
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 ½ tsp Minced Garlic
½ cup Honey
⅓ cup Soy Sauce
⅔ cup Ketchup
2 ½ tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
4 tsp Sriracha Sauce
¼ tsp Ground Ginger
¼ tsp Red Pepper Flakes
Other Ingredients
1 ½ lbs Chicken Breast
½ cup Corn Starch
Olive Oil
15 oz Broccoli Florets
3 cups Minute Rice
Directions
1. Heat olive oil in a saucepan and saute minced garlic.
Kitchen Tip: When measuring the ketchup, fill the ⅔ measuring cup just below the rim. If it is filled to full ⅔ cup, the flavor of the ketchup can overwhelm the rest of the sauce. The spicier you prefer your food, the less of this ingredient you may want to use.
2. Add in honey, soy sauce, ketchup, red wine vinegar, and sriracha sauce. Stir until it is fully combined.
3. Add in ground ginger, and either the whole peppers or the red pepper flakes depending on which version of the sauce is being made. The red pepper flakes cause the sauce to develop slightly more spice than the whole peppers. Use a whisk to ensure that the ground ginger doesn’t clump.
4. Move the sauce to a back burner and let it simmer on low for 20 minutes to develop more flavor.
5. Cut up the chicken breast into small cubes, about ½ inchwide. Use a ziploc bag to combine the chicken and corn starch together.
6. Pour olive oil into a large frying pan until it is generously coating the bottom of the pan, and heat on high.
7. Fry the chicken pieces in the pan until it is crispy and the insides are white when a piece is cut open. This usually takes 10-12 minutes. Dump the chicken onto a paper towel lined plate to reduce the grease sticking to it.
8. Steam the broccoli florets and make up the Minute Rice according to the instructions on the box.
Kitchen Tip: If you are a veggie fan, feel free to incorporate more ingredients to this stir fry. If Cole didn’t have an aversion to mushrooms, I would definitely saute some to add in, and I’m always a fan of the cut baby corn pieces that you can buy in the store too. Broccoli is simply the easiest addition since it can be bought frozen and steamed in the microwave.
9. Combine the rice, chicken pieces, and broccoli together. Allow each person to individually decide how much sauce they would like to spoon over their stir fry.
While this dish has quite a few components to make, it is still relatively easy to make if you tackle the tasks in order. Sauce first, then chicken, then the rice and broccoli. This dish serves four people with comfortably large portion sizes.
Side Note: If you want to make this dish even easier (or healthier) you can choose to bake the chicken breast in the oven and shred it instead of coating it in cornstarch and frying it. I often choose to make the dish this way during the school year since it is way easier to shove chicken in the oven instead of cutting it up into small pieces and frying it. I personally prefer the taste and texture of the fried version, but there are definite health perks to roasting it instead.
Soup's On with Schallock 