No More Curry Powder!: Hunan-style drunken chicken

Hunan-style drunken chicken is this really simple, homely dish that is hard not to love. It is so simple that a tween could do it, with supervision at the wok! I put my own spin on it, since I didn't have any rice wine handy :)

Serves: 3 if appetizer, 2 if main

Cooking and Prep: Approximately 20 minutes total.

Ingredients:

1 lb skin-less chicken, ideally boneless, cut into 2" dice/strips.

2" of ginger, julienned into matchsticks

3/4th cup of sweet white Bordeaux (which I substituted for the original rice wine that the recipe called for)

salt and pepper

Optional:

4 sticks of Green onions, cut into 1" pieces.

1 cup of mushrooms- if these are small, about 1-2", just use as as, washed. If larger, cut into a 1-2" dice.

Notes:

1- Have all your ingredients ready and prepped on hand before beginning to cook. The cooking will go super fast, and you wont have time to prep in between.

2- I used a white Bordeaux, but you can use ANY white wine you would drink. Using a red would discolor the dish, and stop it from being "Chinese"-y enough.

3- Also, as a general rule, whenever you cook with wine, always taste it first. If you don't like the taste of it as a drink, you will not like the taste of it when it flavors your food.

Method:

- Take a wok (or wok-like pot) and put it on high flame.

- Add a spoonful of oil, and swirl it around. In about 5 seconds, add in the ginger.

- Using a spatula, quickly stir fry the ginger- which looks like a lot, but trust me, it turns out to be just enough. In about 30 seconds, it will turn golden, and the fragrance should hit you. This signals the addition of the chicken.

- As soon as the chicken hits the wok, stir fry quickly, about 5 minutes, till its golden on all sides. You wont need to add more oil, since the chicken will have some of its own, even though virtually skin-less.

- Once golden, add in 1/4 cup of the wine, to deglaze the wok. After adding the wine, let it come to a boil while you scrape away any cooked bits sticking to the bottom of the pan- these become part of your sauce.

- The wine will boil away fairly quickly, and now you can add in the remaining half cup, and let it come to a boil. This is also a good time to add in the mushrooms, if usin

- As soon as the wine comes to a boil, cover the wok, and reduce the heat to a bare simmer. Walk away for 10 minutes.

- After 10 minutes, open the wok, and adjust for seasoning.

- If you are eating this over rice/noodles, you want to shut off the heat, and keep the liquid in the wok as is, for sauce. If you are having this as an appetizer, reduce the liquid by boiling it away, to a mere glaze.

- Once the heat is off, add the green onions, if using. These will cook a bit by the heat of the dish itself, but still remain nicely crunchy.