A Brush of Vegetable Sweetness - Peas and Sweet Corn Kernels Stir-Fry

We have this sweet corn in Taiwan, maybe it's more accurate by the name supersweet corn. It's so sweet, at least in corn-spectrum, usually you'll find such corn variety being served at a high-end shabu shabu place here.

And this is the type of corn we will be using for the stir-fry recipe. That paired with peas, it's like a formula guaranteed to yield a refreshing stir-fry filled with vegetable's natural sweetness.

Peas and sweet corn kernels stir-fry - 

Ingredients? 

• 290 grams chicken breast
• 6 shiitake mushrooms
• 2 sweet corn on the cobs (about 1 3/4 cups corn kernels)
• 3/4 cup peas
• 1 tablespoon Japanese tsuyu
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon rice wine
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 small chunk young ginger (about 1/2 teaspoon chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper powder

How?

Slice the chicken breast into medium small cubes. Marinate that with 1 tablespoon of Japanese tsuyu, 1 tablespoon of mirin, and 1 tablespoon of rice wine. Doesn't matter if you're using triple-condensed or double-condensed Japanese tsuyu, the difference in their salty level won't affect much in the end.

Destem and cube the shiitake mushrooms. Scrape and finely chop the ginger, we will need about 1/2 teaspoon chopped ginger in the end. Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves. If using whole corn on the cobs, use a knife to slice from top to bottom to get the corn kernels, which we will need about 1 3/4 cups of corn kernels in the end.

Drizzle 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in the pan and switch to medium heat. Add in ginger and garlics while the oil hasn't turn warm yet. Continue to cook till aromatic but not burning the garlic bits.

Add in chicken and its marinade. Stir-fry till almost cooked-through.

Add in corn kernels and shiitake mushrooms along with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of white pepper powder. Stir-fry till evenly blended.

Add the the delicate peas last. The peas can be cooked in less than a minute then it's time to give the whole thing a quick taste. Adjust with any additional seasonings if needed then this dish is ready to go.

Have you noticed that I used Japanese tsuyu instead of Chinese soy sauce for this recipe? The reason is that the main ingredients we have are on the lighter side, so using soy sauce can be too over-powering taste-wise. 

That's when the Japanese tsuyu came to the picture. It can be quite salty still, but at least texture-wise in a lighter and gentler way. On top of that, Japanese tsuyu will not darken the dish as much as soy sauce. So by using Japanese tsuyu, we can better preserve the original color for the green peas and yellow corn kernels. 

Extended reading:

• Diced chicken with preserved Yibin suimiyacai 雞米芽菜

Chicken With Garlicky Lemony Anchovy Sauce

Usually one or two anchovies would do in a dish. However, this time not only I'm making bigger portion, but also making anchovies the key component here. That means, I don't want the anchovies just be like a back note or a hint of the savory depth. Instead, I want anchovies to shine. I want that umami-packed anchovies to be quite noticeable.

If someone take a bite of this chicken dish, whoever is familiar with canned anchovy should be aware of it right away. That salty savoy pop. Very yummy.

Chicken with garlicky lemony anchovy sauce - 

Ingredients?

• 740 grams boneless skin-on chicken thigh
• 1 small can/about 29 grams solid weight anchovies in olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons capers
• 1/2 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
• 1 lemon
• 1 small bundle/about 20 grams flat leaf parsley
• Some salt
• Some black pepper

How?

Thoroughly feel the chicken with your fingertips. Make sure there are no fragments of bone remain anywhere. Trim-off any excess fat then slice the chicken to medium bite size pieces. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and black pepper. Set them aside while we start prepping other ingredients.

Peel and roughly chop the garlic cloves. Use the leafy part of the parsley only, give it a rough chop. Slice the lemon into wedges.

Take out a big pan, I like to use stainless steel pan for any sort of western dishes that requires quite the amount of searing. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and switch to medium heat.

While the oil temperature hasn't rise up significantly, add in chopped garlics along with 2 teaspoons of capers and 1/2 teaspoon of dried red chili flakes. Also add in one small can of anchovies in oil, but just the anchovies. The one I used was marked as 29 grams solid weight, so I think that's just about the same weight for the actual anchovies inside.

The oil temperature should slowly rise up. Give all the bits inside the pan a few mixes. Continue to move around these ingredients till the anchovies start to break apart and nearly melt away.

Move these bits to the edge of the pan then transfer the chicken to the center skin side down. Sear till you feel the bottom starts to turn golden brown. Flip and sear the other side till golden brown too.

Once the other side seems to set and golden, squeeze in some lemon juice, about 1 tablespoon. Also add in most of the chopped parsley. Mix and cook a little bit longer, or till you are certain all the chicken pieces have been fully cooked. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed.

Once all checked, plate and sprinkle the remaining parsley throughout. Serve with one or two more lemon wedges on the side. 

Note that we didn't use additional salt during the actual cooking steps. It's because we already sprinkle salt and black pepper on raw chicken, also remember that canned anchovies can be quite salty too, especially with the amount used in this recipe.

By the way, I haven't write about wine pairing for a long time (don't drink and drive), but based on my experience I think this dish will go very well with some nicely chilled riesling, or oaked chardonnay. 

Other recipes using canned anchovies:

• Salmon and chorizo in tangy tomato sauce
• Pasta al tonno (pasta with tomatoes, capers, and canned tuna)