Chicken, Mushroom And Snow Pea Stir-Fry

Whip up this quick and easy dish!

Chicken, mushrooms and snow peas is the stir-fry to learn if you only learn one. Fifteen minutes, one pan, a good mix of textures, and it goes with rice on any night of the week.

The two things that separate this from a soggy version:

Velvet the chicken. Fifteen minutes in cornflour and egg white is what makes restaurant chicken tender, not stringy. It’s the single highest-return step in Chinese home cooking.
Cook in stages, not all at once. Everything in the pan together drops the temperature and the whole thing steams.

Ingredients

Serves 4, about 25 minutes including marinating

Chicken and marinade

400g chicken thigh, sliced thinly against the grain
1 tbsp cornflour
1 egg white
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Shaoxing wine, optional

Everything else

200g mushrooms: shiitake, button or a mix, sliced
200g snow peas, strings removed
3 cloves garlic, sliced
4 slices ginger
2 tbsp neutral oil
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
½ tsp sugar
3 tbsp water or chicken stock
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp cold water

Method

Marinate the chicken with the cornflour, egg white, soy and wine. Leave 15 minutes while you prepare everything else.
String the snow peas. Snap the stem end and pull down the side. The string comes away in one piece. Skipping this leaves something unpleasantly fibrous in an otherwise good dish.
Heat the wok until hot, add half the oil, and cook the chicken in a single layer. Leave it a minute before stirring. Take it out when just cooked through and set aside.
Add the rest of the oil with the garlic and ginger, 20 seconds.
Mushrooms next, 2 to 3 minutes, until they’ve released their water and it’s cooked away. Don’t rush this: mushrooms added late make everything watery.
Snow peas in, 1 to 2 minutes. They should stay bright green and squeak slightly.
Return the chicken. Add the oyster sauce, soy, sugar and stock, and toss.
Pour in the cornflour slurry, stirring, until the sauce thickens and coats, about 30 seconds. Finish with sesame oil off the heat.

Notes

Thigh over breast. It stays tender and forgives an extra minute in the pan; breast doesn’t.
A hot pan matters more than a good pan. Wait for it before the oil goes in.
Don’t crowd it. Cook the chicken in two batches if your pan is small.
Snow peas versus sugar snaps: both work, but sugar snaps need an extra minute.
Vegetarian version: firm tofu, pressed and cubed, in place of the chicken, with a mushroom-based oyster sauce.

What’s in it

Chicken thigh supplies protein along with more fat than breast, and that’s also why it stays tender. Mushrooms bring B vitamins, selenium and fibre for very few calories. Snow peas contribute vitamin C, vitamin K and fibre, and the vitamin C helps the body absorb iron from the rest of the meal.

Oyster sauce and soy sauce are both salty, which is the number to watch in a dish that’s otherwise light. Reducing the oyster sauce and adding a splash more stock keeps the flavour while bringing the sodium down.

For children

Snow peas are flat and firm. Halve or chop them for children under four instead of serving them whole. Slice the chicken small, and go easy on the sauce, since the salt in oyster and soy sauce adds up quickly in a small body.

For a baby, set aside plain cooked chicken and soft mushroom before the sauce goes in.

Frequently asked questions

What does velveting do?

Cornflour and egg white form a light coating that holds moisture in during high-heat cooking, so restaurant stir-fried chicken is tender. Fifteen minutes is enough to notice the difference.

Why is my stir-fry watery?

Usually mushrooms added too late or a pan that wasn’t hot enough. Give the mushrooms time to release their liquid and cook it off, and avoid crowding the pan.

Chicken breast or thigh?

Thigh. It stays tender and tolerates a little overcooking. Breast works if you velvet it and take it out the moment it turns opaque.

Do I have to string snow peas?

Yes, unless you enjoy the string. Snap the stem end and pull along the seam; it comes off cleanly.

Can young children eat this?

With adjustments. Chop the snow peas for under-fours, slice the chicken small, and keep the sauce light because of the salt.

Quick recap

Velvet the chicken for fifteen minutes. String the snow peas. Cook in stages: chicken out, aromatics, mushrooms until dry, snow peas, chicken back, sauce, thicken.

Hot pan, no crowding, sesame oil at the end.