What’s cooking today: Chicken stir fry with aubergine and pak choy

There is at least one thing you can’t cook in an air fryer. And that’s pretty much anything that is stir-fried in a wok. When any new gadget comes along that takes our collective fancy, there’s usually something else in the kitchen that starts to disappear into the back of the cupboard and slowly out of our lives. Remember the fondue? Let’s not let the wok get relegated to history.

This is a quick and easy stir fry for a family supper. The only seasoning is soy sauce, and no salt or pepper are needed.

Ingredients

4 chicken breast fillets, sliced into strips

1 x 3 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and diced small

2 fat fresh garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

2 aubergines, sliced into strips

1 large red pepper

2 spring onions, sliced thinly

A bunch of pak choy

A splash or two of soy sauce

Jasmine rice, as needed, cooked

Wok oil, as needed

Method

Trim the root ends off the aubergines (eggplant, brinjal) and discard. Slice them lengthwise (pear-shaped) into thin slices, then slice those portions into thin strips. 

Remove seeds from a red pepper and slice it into julienne strips. Chop the spring onions and prepare the garlic and ginger. Chop the root ends off the pak choy and rinse and dry the leaves. Slice the chicken breasts into strips, and put the rice on to cook while you’re cooking the wok ingredients.

Add oil to a wok and put it on the heat (always start with a cold wok, then oil, then heat). 

Stir-fry the ingredients in this order, only until softened, so not long at all: the aubergines with a little of the chopped garlic; the red pepper and spring onions with more garlic and some of the ginger; then the chicken strips with any remaining ginger and garlic, adding a splash of soy sauce, not too much. Add more wok oil whenever needed. Remove cooked items to a side dish as you work.

Stir-fry the pak choy in a little more oil until wilted, adding a splash of soy sauce. When ready to serve, add everything back to the wok and toss for a minute to heat through and have everything pleasantly mixed up. Serve with jasmine rice. DM/TGIFood

Mervyn Gers Ceramics supplies dinnerware for the styling of some TGIFood shoots.

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks. Share your versions of his recipes with him on Instagram and he’ll see them and respond.

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