Chicken and Chives Stir Fry

There were a few interesting items at the grocery today.  Flowering chives made a rare appearance!  And I remembered how my mom loved them!  She simply stir fried them with some chopped garlic and ate them as is.

Lovely and delicate as their flavor is, I really could not prepare them the way my mom did (for one thing they were too pricey!)  Besides, a bunch or two would not turn out a large enough dish or be appropriate to serve as an entree.

Then I remember eating a simple chicken dish in Hong Kong that seemed to me to be simple stir fried chicken breast strips with flowering chives.

So here is my attempt to recreate that dish.

2 to 3 chicken breast fillets
1 tablespoon shao xing wine
1 to 2 tablespoons light soya sauce
fresh ground pepper
1 bundle of flowering chives
cornstarch water (for thickening, if desired)

Slice the fillets into chunks.  Marinate in wine, soy sauce and pepper for about 30 minutes.

Chop the flowering chives into 1 1/2-inch strips.  (I always discard the tough ends and any wilted parts)

Heat oil in a wok until really hot (sizzling!) Stir fry the chives for a few seconds and then throw in the chicken chunks.  Quick fry, adjust seasonings (salt and pepper to taste).  Do not overcook.

The choice to add a thickener is personal.  Usually, if my dish is a bit saucy, I would add cornstarch water.  But it there's not much liquid, then I leave the chicken as is.

Instead of chicken, shelled shrimp, fish fillets, or squid may be used.  Flowering chives are also good as "topping" for noodles, especially long life egg misua dishes.  Another way is to add the chives to scrambled eggs.