Recipe video above. This is just about the minimum ingredients you can use to make a great stir fry that still really stacks up to real Chinese take out! Extra saucy is how I like this - because broccoli florets have a tendency to hold lots of sauce but I still want some to soak my rice.Shortcut using Charlie - see Note 5 (the sauce in this recipe is basically Charlie!).
Broccoli: steam or boil using preferred method until cooked to your taste (it won't cook any further in the stir fry). I usually microwave steam 3 minutes on high. Drain well.
Sauce: Mix cornflour and soy sauce, then mix in remaining ingredients.
Tenderising option: Consider tenderising chicken breast using this method. (Not needed for thigh)
Cook: Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add garlic and onion, stir for 10 seconds until garlic starts to go golden.
Then add chicken and cook for 2 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked through.
Add broccoli, Sauce and water. Stir well and cook for 1 to 2 minutes until the Sauce thickens and becomes glossy, and coats the ingredients.
1. Soy Sauce - ordinary all purpose or light soy sauce. Do not use dark soy sauce - flavour is too strong and sauce will be very dark. See here for more information about different soy sauces.2. Chinese Cooking Wine (Shaoxing Wine) - sub with dry sherry (near perfect sub). If you can't consume alcohol, use low sodium chicken broth in place of the cooking wine in the Sauce AND in place of the water, AND reduce oyster sauce by 1 tablespoon.3. Vegetarian Oyster Sauce - Nowadays you can find vegetarian oyster sauce (suitable for vegans) even at supermarket. For example, Ayam Vegetarian Oyster Sauce. It's actually pretty good!And here's homemade Vegetarian Oyster Sauce recipe by Omnivore's Cookbook, a Chinese recipe blog. I was extremely impressed with it.4. Chicken - if using breast, option to tenderise using the Chinese method so it's super tender and juicy like you get at Chinese restaurants - see How to tenderise chicken the Chinese way (Velveting)5. Charlie - to make this using Charlie (the affectionate name for my All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce!), use 7 tablespoons of Charlie instead of the Sauce in this recipe. The stir fry sauce in this recipe is basically Charlie.6. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. I don't recommend freezing - sauces thickened with cornflour/cornstarch tend to become watery if frozen. But other than sauce thickness, flavour holds up just fine!7. Nutrition per serving assuming 5 servings, excluding rice.