Diced Chicken Schezuan Style

Yes, another Chinese dish for us last night. It wasn’t planned. It’s almost the end of the week and I only had celery, carrots and some leftover bamboo shoots in my fridge. I could still make my dining table exciting I told myself.

In my freezer, I make sure that there are different kinds and cuts of meat like beef, in stewing or ground; pork, sweet and sour cut or ground; prawns; fish. When chickens go on sale, I buy them in bulk, slice them in different slices and pack them in freezer bags. Pre-packing them that way makes my after office hours more manageable. My freezer is not full because I only make sure that there’s one of a kind there. Anything I use during the week, I list it down and buy it on the weekend when I go grocery shopping.

Cooking my chicken Schezuan Style, I had:

2 tbsp of olive oil
4 boneless chicken breasts, diced
2 tbsp of roasted chilis in sesame oil
3 tbsp of black bean sauce
about 6 dried chilis
1 onion
2 medium carrots, diced
5 stalks of celery, sliced into about 1.5 cms long
about ¾ cup of canned bamboo shoots
lots of chopped garlic

Sauté the chicken first in 1 tbsp of olive oil for about 5 minutes or until cooked and set it aside.

Pouring the remaining oil, I put the sliced onion, the chilis and the black bean sauce in. Be prepared to have a sneeze. The chilis are deadly. Add the carrots in and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the celery and the bamboo shoots. Cover the pan and cook for another 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the chicken and the chopped garlic.

My husband thought I was mad at him because it was too spicy. Usually, I use my kids as my gauge. If they can eat what I cooked, it means it was just fine. They had 2 servings each so I thought I did just fine.