This is a Thai-style stir fry with ground chicken. It is flavored with garlic, chillies and a delicious sauce made with simple ingredients. Serve this healthy chicken mince stir fry with rice for a super quickweeknight dinner that takes minimum effort!
500grams/1.1 poundsboneless chicken(breasts, thighs or legs)
1½tablespoonspeanut oil
5Thai red chillies(bird's eye chilies)
5clovesgarlic
1largeonion
Sauce
2tablespoonsdark soy sauce
1½tablespoonslight soy sauce
1tablespoonoyster sauce
2teaspoonsfish sauce
2teaspoonspalm sugar
¼cupwater
Garnish
Ahandful ofchopped spring onions
STEP BY STEP IMAGES
Scroll back to find detailed recipe photos!
Instructions
Chop the boneless chicken into chunks and place them in a food processor. Process until the chicken is minced. Scrape the sides of the processor jar and process again. Repeat until you get minced chicken with a uniform texture.
500 grams/1.1 pounds boneless chicken
Roughly chop garlic and chillies. Pound them into a coarse paste using a mortar and pestle.
5 Thai red chillies, 5 cloves garlic
Mix together all the ingredients for the sauce. Whisk until the palm sugar dissolves completely.
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce, 1½ tablespoons light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon oyster sauce, 2 teaspoons fish sauce, 2 teaspoons palm sugar, ¼ cup water
Heat peanut oil in a wok until the oil is hot. Add the chilli garlic paste and fry on medium heat for about a minute.
1½ tablespoons peanut oil
Add the minced chicken, increase the heat to high and stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes until the chicken turns white.
Add finely chopped onions and stir fry again until they turn translucent. This would take about 3 minutes.
1 large onion
Add the sauce and stir for 3 minutes or until you get the desired consistency.
Turn off the flame and garnish with spring onions. Serve with steaming hot rice.
A handful of chopped spring onions
Video
Notes
Stir-frying is basically a quick method of frying in hot oil. Ensure that you prepare all ingredients and the sauce before you turn on the stove. That includes ALL the chopping, mincing, and mixing.
Chicken mince: DO NOT use a blender to mince the chicken. You need a bit of texture and not mushy chicken.
Don't have a food processor? You can use a sharp knife. Slice the chicken lengthwise first. (If you're not sure, see the picture in the post above or check out thin sliced baked chicken breasts for picture/video.) Then slice them again into strips. After that, mince the strips using the knife. This way you’ll get minced chicken similar to the one made with a food processor.
Pounding the garlic and chillies with mortar and pestle gives the best results. Or place them in a ziplock bag and pound with a heavy object. Using a blender will reduce the flavor slightly. But if nothing else works, use the blender.
Frying: The oil should be hot for stir-frying. After you add the chili garlic paste to hot oil, you can reduce the flame to medium and fry. This will prevent the garlic from burning.
High flame: Once you add the minced chicken, increase the heat to high. Maintain the flame at high until you finish with the sauce.
The sauce: To get an appetizing sheen on the chicken mince stir fry, add 2 or 3 teaspoons of sesame oil to the sauce before adding it to the wok.
Substitutes
Soy sauce: I use dark for its richness and light for its saltiness. You can also use an equal amount (both put together) of regular soy sauce.
Sugar: If you don't have palm sugar, use the same quantity of brown sugar or coconut sugar.
Oil: The closest alternative to peanut oil would be sunflower oil, which has almost the same smoke point.