🌈 Rainbow Chicken Stir Fry 🌈

Rainbow Chicken Stir Fry

This Rainbow Chicken Stir Fry is a recipe designed to bring some much needed mood-lifting cheer in my life along with a big veggie hit (also much needed). Quick, easy, highly adaptable to whatever veg you’ve got!

If there was ever a time I needed something big and colourful and cheerful, it’s right now. I never thought I would share a recipe which was so focussed on a visual outcome that I was choosing vegetables based solely on their cooked-colour qualities (the broccoli has too many yellow florets! 😤). But then again, I never thought I would be grieving the loss of Dozer in such a public way.

How far I am from my desk-bound-city-gal days!

Nevertheless, here we are, armed with a bounty of vegetables representing the colours in a rainbow for a big chicken stir fry that is as nourishing and delicious as it is a delight to look at. I hope it brings some cheer into your life too!

Ingredients in Rainbow Chicken Stir Fry

Here’s what you need to make this colourful stir fry.

the Vegetables

The vegetables I’m using below were specifically chosen to achieve a kaleidoscope of colour. But don’t fret if you don’t have everything I’ve shown below, or if they’re out of season / expensive! As with most stir fries, you can make this with virtually any vegetable.

So much colour talk! It’s a first, that’s for sure. Normally it’s all about flavour!

• Red and yellow capsicum (bell pepper) – I use half of each to get both red and yellow colour in the stir fry. But it’s ok! You can use just a whole capsicum that’s a single colour, promise you won’t ruin your dinner. 🙂

• Red cabbage – Again, chosen for colour! Feel free to substitute with your every day regular green cabbage, or spinach, kale or other similar cook-able leafy greens.

• Baby bok choy – I chose these to add some white into the stir fry, from the stems. The leaves end up wilting so much, they don’t actually add much green in, so I get the green from edamame and the sugar snap peas. I like to use baby bok choy (small ones) because they’re so easy to prep for stir fries, just cut the leafy part off the stem and it’s ready to use. For regular size ones, use one large or 2 medium ones (chop the leaves).

• Sugar snap peas – For green! I chose sugar snap peas for a bit of lovely sweet crunch. Also, they were cheaper than snow peas which was the other option. 🙂

• Edamame – For more green! I loved the green pops it adds into this stir fry, almost like glowing jades. Or emeralds. Err….maybe not. Is there a gemstone that’s kind of greenish yellow?? 🤔 (PS I use frozen shelled edamame. I don’t grow and shell my own. 🙂 )

• Green onion – This was more about getting aromatic onion flavour into the stir fry, the easier option to peeling and chopping an onion (you can totally do that instead if you want).

• Cashews! Not for colour. Just because I love cashews in my stir fries, and I felt like I deserved it. I use roasted, unsalted cashews here. If you have raw cashews, toast them to cook through before starting the stir fry, then add them back in per the recipe.

the sauce and chicken

The stir fry sauce is intentionally light in colour so it won’t mute the vibrant colours of the vegetables. And while I’ve used chicken, the recipe card has directions for making this with beef or pork instead (tip: tenderise it!).

• Chicken – I use boneless thighs which stay nice and juicy in stir fries. If using breast or tenderloin, I recommend tenderising it – directions here (it’s easy, and the results are phenomenal).

• Light soy sauce – This provides most of the salt in the sauce. I use light soy sauce because it doesn’t colour the sauce too much – as noted above, I intentionally make the sauce as clear as possible. Any regular or all-purpose soy sauce, or tamari (for gluten-free) can be used as well, though the sauce will be a touch more brown. Do not use dark soy sauce or sweet soy sauce / kecap manis as they are too intense. More on which soy sauce to use when here.

• Oyster sauce – A staple Asian sauce that adds complexity, flavour and umami all at once. Made from oyster extract that is sweet, salty, thick and pungent, but doesn’t taste oyster-y or fishy at all once cooked. Can be substituted with shellfish free alternative – vegetarian “oyster” sauce, even found at regular grocery stores these days.

• Chinese cooking wine (“Shaoxing wine”) – essential ingredient for making truly “restaurant standard” Chinese dishes, adds depth of flavour into sauces. Substitute with mirin, cooking sake or dry sherry. Non alcoholic substitute – substitute the water with low sodium chicken stock/broth.

• Sesame oil – We add this into the stir fry at the very end is you get a really lovely hit of sesame flavour (cooking sesame oil dulls the flavour). (PS I always use toasted sesame oil which is the common one here in Australia. It’s brown. Untoasted sesame oil is harder to find. It is yellow and the sesame flavour is not as strong).

• Cornflour / cornstarch – This is what thickens the sauce and makes it glossy so it coats the stir fry ingredients beautifully.

• White pepper which is the traditional pepper choice in Asian cooking. Substitute with black pepper.

How to make Rainbow Chicken Stir Fry

As with most stir fries, this moves fast once you start cooking (8 minutes). So have everything chopped and ready to toss into the pan!

1. Sauce – Mix the sauce ingredients in a jug, then set aside. Take note of the order in which I add the sauces, so it’s easy to make a lump-free stir fry sauce! 🙂

2. Season chicken – Mix the chopped chicken with a bit of Chinese cooking wine to season it with flavour. (It’s salty – did you know that?)

3. Chicken first – Start by cooking the chicken first. Use a large 30 cm / 12″ non stick pan which will ensure everything sizzles nicely rather than becoming all watery and stewy (not good in stir-fry situations).

4. Garlic and green onion – When the chicken is mostly cooked, add the garlic and the white part of the green onion. These are aromatics that will flavour the oil and chicken.

5. Firmer veg – Next, add the capsicum, sugar snap peas, stem of the bok choy, edamame (still frozen is fine) and cashews. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. The vegetables will still be mostly raw at this stage which is fine, they will cook through more in the next steps.

6. Leafy wilting things – Finally, add the bok choy leaves, cabbage and green part of the green onions. Give them a toss for around 30 seconds until they start to wilt (I find it’s easiest to do this with two spatulas).

7. Sauce – Give the sauce a quick mix to agitate any cornflour that has settled on the base, then pour it into the pan.

8. Thicken and sesame oil – Let the sauce simmer for around 1 minute and watch as it magically thickens into a shiny sauce that coats all the vegetables beautifully. Then stir in the sesame oil and your beautiful Rainbow Stir Fry is ready to serve!

Oh, in case I haven’t convinced you yet – full impact image of the rainbow of colours! How can you resist making this. 😊

Hope you get a chance to try this. And remember, no stressing if you don’t have all the vegetables I use! The recipe card includes a guide on how to make this with whatever vegetables you’ve got.

Enjoy! – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

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Rainbow Chicken Stir Fry

Author: Nagi

Mains, Stir Fry

Asian, Chinese

Servings5 – 5 people

Tap or hover to scale

Recipe video above. This is a big, colourful chicken stir fry designed to bring a little cheer and colour in your life, and give you a big veggie hit. Much needed in my life right now!There’s lots of little bits in this (it’s part of the fun) so it’s probably easier to eat with a spoon – unless you’re a chopstick master. Highly adaptable – use any veg you’ve got – and super quick 8 minute cook so make sure you’ve got everything chopped and ready to toss in the wok.

Ingredients

Rainbow stir fry (Note 4 for veg substitutions):

• ▢ 2 tbsp peanut oil , or vegetable or canola oil
• ▢ 4 garlic cloves , finely minced with a knife
• ▢ 3 green onion stems , cut into 4 cm / 2″ lengths, white part separated from green part (or 1/2 onion sliced)
• ▢ 1 cup sugar snap peas or small snow peals , strings removed (Note 5)
• ▢ 1/2 each red and yellow capsicum (bell pepper), deseeded, cut into 1 cm /0.4″ strips
• ▢ 3 baby bok choy , leaves cut off stems, big stems cut lengthways – or any other Asian greens
• ▢ 3/4 cup unsalted roasted cashews (or almonds)
• ▢ 3/4 cup frozen edamame beans – use frozen (ie. shelled)
• ▢ 1 1/2 cups purple cabbage , cut into 5 x 1 cm /0.4″ strips – or any other type of cabbage, baby spinach etc
• ▢ 2 tbsp sesame oil (for finishing)

Cook ModePrevent screen from sleeping

Instructions

ABBREVIATED:

• Cook chicken until mostly cooked, add garlic and white part of green onion towards end. Add first: capsicum, bok choy stems, cashews and edamame (1 min). Then bok choy leaves, cabbage and green part of green onion (30 seconds). Add sauce, thicken, then finish with sesame oil. Serve!

FULL INSTRUCTIONS:

• Sauce – In a jug, mix cornflour with a splash of the water until dissolved. Mix in everything else except the remaining water until dissolved. Then add remaining water.

• Chicken – Toss chicken with Chinese cooking wine and pepper.

• Cook – Heat the oil in a large 30 cm / 12″ non stick skillet over high heat. Add chicken then stir constantly until mostly cooked, about 2 minutes.

• Add garlic and the white part of green onion, cook for 1 minute.

• Add the capsicum, bok choy stem, cashews and frozen edamame. Cook 1 minute.

• Add bok choy leaves, cabbage and green part of green onions. Toss with two spatulas until slightly wilted (~30 seconds).

• Sauce – Add the sauce, stir and let it simmer until it becomes glossy and thickens so it coats everything beautifully, about 1 minute.

• Sesame oil – Add sesame oil, toss through, then serve over rice.

Recipe Notes:

1. Chinese cooking wine brings depth of flavour into any otherwise simple stir fry sauce. Without, the sauce lacks flavour. Find it at large regular grocery stores these days (it’s cheap and lasts “forever”). Substitute with Mirin, cooking sake or dry sherry. For non-alcoholic, skip it and use low-sodium chicken stock instead of water for the sauce, and use soy sauce instead for the chicken.
2. Light soy sauce makes the sauce a paler colour so the vegetable colours are brighter. All-purpose sauce and tamari are slightly darker but flavour wise will work just as well. Do not use dark soy sauce or sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), these are far too intense. See here for more about different types of soy sauce.
3. Chicken thighs stay nice and juicy in stir fries so it’s my preferred cut. To use breast or tenderloin which are much leaner, I recommend tenderising – see directions here (it’s easy, and so worth it). To use pork or beef, I also recommend tenderising – directions here (it’s for velveting beef but the same recipe applies to pork).
4. Vegetable alternatives – You can really use any vegetables you want / have, just add them in based on how long they take to cook. Quantity – use 7 – 8 cups (packed) in total if half the add ins wilt a lot (cabbage, bok choy, green onion, in this recipe) or 5 cups of hard non-wilting veg (like carrots, zucchini, broccoli).
5. Sugar snap peas – Remove the string that runs along both seams on the pod and snap the stem end off. Use whole. For snow peas, the string only needs to be removed along one side. Use small ones whole, cut large ones in half diagonally.
Leftovers will keep for 3 days in the fridge but the sauce gets a little thinner due to water extracted from the vegetables. Not suitable for freezing.
Nutrition per serving, assuming 5 servings (excludes rice). 107 calories per serving is attributable to the cashews, so exclude these to significantly reduce the calories.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 394cal (20%)Carbohydrates: 19g (6%)Protein: 20g (40%)Fat: 27g (42%)Saturated Fat: 5g (31%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 6gMonounsaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 69mg (23%)Sodium: 614mg (27%)Potassium: 579mg (17%)Fiber: 4g (17%)Sugar: 6g (7%)Vitamin A: 4400IU (88%)Vitamin C: 90mg (109%)Calcium: 142mg (14%)Iron: 4mg (22%)

Keywords: rainbow chicken, rainbow stir fry

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In memory of Dozer

It’s been almost two weeks since I said goodbye to Dozer. It feels like a lot has happened, but also as though time has stood still.

Firstly, I am doing ok. I am still terribly sad, my heart still hurts from missing him (there is literally no other way to describe the pangs), and I still cry every day. But I am not falling apart. I am back at work and getting into routine again.

But – it is not my intention to use this section of the post to pine for Dozer. I want to use this new In Memory Of section for more positive and heart-warming things. Like – a Dozer tat!!! Come on…you knew I would……

My grandmother is rolling over in her grave. This is the first tattoo (that we know of) in our entire extended family. In Japan, it is considered taboo to have a tattoo. Only the yakuza (mafia) has tattoos!! my grandmother declared sternly (mind you, she also said the same about sunglasses, and would refuse to walk beside me if I dared to wear mine 😎).

And in other news – there have been flowers for Dozer left outside RTM (our food bank), beside the life-size sticker of him on the window. My team didn’t tell me about this until I came back to work this week, and of course this triggered a flood of tears as I was so touched.

There were also the friendship bracelets made by readers which were posted way back in early December but only found their way to me in February. I opened the package when I got home after that fateful day and I sobbed so hard when I saw them. Barely a day has gone by since without wearing them, I don’t care that I’m not a 14 year old! 🥰 Thank you Christine, Monique and Harriet, I will treasure them!

And, astonishingly, the passing of Dozer was in the press (like here and here and here). At the time, every article that popped up had me in a flood of tears (to be fair though, for the first few days, pretty much everything would make me cry – from that possum running across the fence that Dozer would’ve gone nuts over, to the sprinklers on the lawn that Dozer used to play with).

But then afterwards, my family and I laughed with disbelief and shook our heads that my goofy, adorable, cute-but-not-very-smart fur ball had somehow become headline news, just by being his lovable, food-obsessed self. ❤️

I have much more to share in the coming weeks, including something positive and uplifting in memory of Dozer, but for today I will stop here. Thank you for reading! – N x

I love you Dozer. I miss you every single day. I hope you are splashing in the surf, and having steak and cheese for dinner every single night. Love – your mum. xx