Balcony. Lavender. Ginger.

Two friends decided to pay me a visit last night, and seeing that the weather is lovely I decided we should sit in the balcony. A small dinner calls for culinary show-off. I decided to go with chicken ginger stir-fry with brown rice, a lavender spritzer and leftovers from yesterday’s Nutella cake. Time sailed, and along came glassful after glassful of spritzer; before we knew it it was almost midnight.

The fragrant ginger kept us warm; the sweet lavender was just the right thing to compliment the flavor.

Chicken ginger stir-fry with brown rice

Basic ginger stir-fry.

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts, cut into chunks (I use one plate of the chilled boneless breasts sold at the Sultan Center)

1 large onion, sliced

1/2 cup fresh ginger, cut into thin sticks (NOT grated) soaked for fifteen minutes in cold water.

1/2 cup carrot, cut into thin sticks (you can find ‘shredded’ carrots in the Sultan Center that are ready to use)

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar, any kind

vegetable oil for frying

ginger powder (optional)

Method:

1. Oil a shallow pan and cook the chicken for about 8 – 10 minutes on medium-high heat, until cooked through. Set aside.

2. In the same pan, cook the onions, ginger, carrots for about 8 minutes until the onions begin to brown. Add soy sauce, vinegar, sugar. Cook for about three minutes.

3. Taste. If you don’t find it ginger-y enough, add ginger powder. It should taste OK as is, half a cup of ginger is really enough. But a friend of mine likes everything to be overwhelmingly spicy. The ginger powder should make it easier to adjust the ‘gingerity’ of your food.

Serve with brown rice, preferably cooked in chicken stock. Two cups of washed brown rice with four cups of chicken stock in a rice cooker or on your stove top in a pot. Or with chinese noodles, white rice, jasmine rice, couscous, whichever works for you.

Serves 4.

xoxo

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