This was practically a staple in our house growing up, brother bear would order it every time without fail from the two Chinese restaurants in town. Unfortunately and perhaps a bit naively, I never considered how different Chinese food would be from CHINA and the US. The US has a bastardised version of classic Chinese dishes, which when I'm being honest, I'm not mad about. It turns out I much prefer American Chinese food to China Chinese food.
Much like G-town, there are only two American Chinese restaurants in HCMC, the chicken always leaves me wondering if I'm going to be sick the next day, the chow mein is far too greasy, and the crab rangoon is either non-existent or lacking in all that I'm used to. So, I took it upon myself to try out a homemade chicken and broccoli.
I think I first went wrong buying frozen chicken breasts. The nice thing about them was that I didn't have to cook the meal on the day I went shopping. The less nice thing was that the meat, once cooked, ended up being a bit tough and very dry. Lesson learned: buy fresh from the hawkers on the street. The LAST time I tried that, though, I failed to communicate boneless, skinless, so you might imagine how tears nearly formed in my eyes upon the mess that is an entire chicken breast. So many lessons learned in the kitchen.
In the end, the sauce was delicious, despite the overcooked chicken. The broccoli was fresh and crispy, which translated very well the next day once reheated. The recipe calls for ginger, which I've decided I can absolutely live without, at least when I'm cooking at home. There's a street food stall in the centre of town that makes the most delicious ginger chicken, maybe I'll ask them to teach me some day, HA!
I'd love to post the recipe and step by step, but I've concluded that I don't really LIKE blogger anymore because it spaces everything so badly. So instead, check out this handy little link: Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry (shockingly, mine wasn't too far off from the photo).
There's no fun being your own taste tester, so I had the girls over for a spot of wine and this dish. Just before they arrived, I realised I'd made no appetisers, which I felt was a massive faux pas for my mini dinner party trio. I attempted Chinese scallion pancakes, which weren't bad, but were a bitch to get off of my hands during the batter making process. Furthermore, the leftovers of which were not worth saving.
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