Taiwanese-style Chicken Stir-fry Recipe (台式家常雞柳)

Hello everyone, it's Mrs Ferris here with another recipe! This time it is one of my all-time favorite Taiwanese dishes: chicken stir-fry (台式家常雞柳 in Chinese). I still make it all the time now because Ferris and I both love it so much! Traditionally, Taiwanese would just use a single vegetable in this dish (eg. bok choy), but I have modified the recipe to include a mix of different veges. Hope you enjoy this delicious and aromatic meal!

Ingredients (serves 6):

- 650g Chicken breasts, trimmed and sliced into 8cm strips
- 5 Garlic cloves, sliced
- 100g Baby corn, sliced in half lengthways
- 2 Broccoli florets, chopped
- 3 Bunches Bok Choy, chopped
- 100g Green beans (optional), trimmed and chopped
- 1 Carrot, thinly sliced
- 8 Tablespoons Salt-reduced soy sauce
- 4 Heaped tablespoons Corn flour
- 6 Tablespoons Maggi oyster sauce
- 6 Tablespoons Olive oil
- 100ml Water
- 1/2 Teaspoon Chili powder (optional)
- Cooked Jasmine rice, to serve

Directions:
1. Combine chicken, soy sauce and chili powder well in a large bowl. Add corn flour and use hands to combine chicken with corn flour. Ensure all chicken strips are evenly coated with corn flour and that there are no clumps of flour.

2. Heat 2.5 tablespoons oil in a wok over high heat until hot. Add half the garlic and stir for 5 seconds, then add half the chicken. Stir and toss frequently to make sure chicken strips do not stick together. When chicken (and garlic) are cooked through, transfer to a bowl. Reheat the wok with 2.5 tablespoons oil and repeat with remaining chicken and garlic.

3. Add 1 tablespoon oil to hot wok. Add broccoli and baby corn and stir fry for 1 minute. Add green beans, bok choy and carrot. Add water and oyster sauce. Stir until sauce is well combined with the vegetables.

4. Return chicken and garlic to wok and stir to combine chicken and vegetables. Cook until vegetables are just tender.

5. Taste and add salt if desired. Serve warm with cooked rice.

Tips:
1. Coat chicken with corn flour just before cooking. If the chicken is coated with corn flour too long before cooking, the chicken will taste floury.

2. Drain chicken strips from water before marinating them with soy sauce, so that when they are added to the heated wok, the hot oil won't spit too much.

3. To ensure vegetables stay crunchy, after you add the vegetables to the hot wok, work quickly when adding other ingredients to the wok. Maggi Oyster Sauce is a bit hard to pour out of the bottle, so it might be a good idea to measure and pour it into a cup before cooking.

4. This recipe also works well with other types of Asian greens.

Ingredients all ready to go

Stir-frying the chicken

With vegetables added it should look something like this!

Far Cry 2: Malaria and Mike's Bar

I've just bought a copy of Far Cry 2 and have played it for perhaps an hour.  First impressions?  Graphics are incredible: everything looks extremely realistic, and it's nice to see details like bushes and grass moving in the wind, and accurate shadows everywhere.  The framerate is high, with no noticeable slowdown yet.  Controls are pretty good... not quite up to Call of Duty 4 standard, but perfectly adequate.  Negatives?  Well, one so far- getting stuck very early on in the game where I needed to get to Mike's Bar to obtain pills to keep my malaria in check.  A cut scene tells you to proceed to the bar quickly to get the pills... fair enough I thought, drop everything and let's go. But to my frustration halfway to the bar I would have a malarial attack, pass out, and be returned to sit through the entire cut scene again.  Each time I would set out and try a different route, visit a safe house first etc, but nothing made any difference and I would pass out each time.  After cursing the game for half an hour I thought "stuff Mike's Bar and my malaria - I'm just going to go and look for some hidden diamonds".  Lo and behold once I'd found some diamonds my way was clear to drive to Mike's Bar... I got there with no problems at all.  It all seemed a bit illogical to me, and contrary to my expectation of Far Cry 2 being a non-linear game.  I suppose this was all part of the structured 'training' section of the game, but all it has managed to do is make me think this whole Far Cry 2 "malaria" thing might ruin what looks to be a great game...

Building my first arcade cabinet: Part X

A few more photos, now that I have added some instruction cards for old-school authenticity :)

Building my first arcade cabinet: Part IX

The marquee is complete!  I purchased some perspex (cut to size) from Eddie Walewicz Glass in Fyshwick, and spent an hour or so cutting out the speaker holes and drilling holes for screws.  Another hour or so was spent trimming the three separate print outs and making sure they lined up with the perspex and the front of the cabinet when assembled.  I think the end result is pretty good... it's not perfect (like the rest of the cabinet :), but I managed to achieve the look and quality of finish I was aiming for.  Note that my marquee isn't backlit, although the photos give that impression due to the camera flash. One thing that's a bit hard to see from the photos is the piece of tinted perspex I have placed over the monitor.  It makes a huge difference to the look of the cabinet... it certainly looks more professional and authentic now.  So, just one thing left to do, which is to source some black rubber edging... and then I will be completely finished! :)