Chicken with Pepper and Celery

I had leftover celery from making my chicken rice soup, so I went to Tasty Kitchen, one of the websites that Pioneer Woman started for people to share recipes they make at home on, and found this one when I searched for celery. The site has been undergoing maintenance so it's been a little wonky of late.

Anyway this looked simple enough. I figured it would be kind of spicy though with that much pepper in it. And it was. But it was really good. Sean apparently is not a big celery fan so while he exclaimed it had a lot of flavor and tried to go for it, he wound up picking around all the celery. It also contains a lot of celery leaves, which I had never thought of using before, but which tasted wonderful.

I added leftover carrot and some of the celery to it as well, and left out the onion.

You'll need soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt, pepper, garlic, chicken, and whatever veggies you want. I used carrots and celery, obviously. And that big pile of celery leaves. Also I used that Kikkoman Teriyaki marinade, more on that later. Oh and some sugar, I forgot to put it in the picture. As usual.

I also marinated the chicken in the teriyaki and man.. awesome.

Make your sauce. Soy sauce, oyster sauce, a little sugar, salt, lots of pepper..  I wound up adding almost a whole other teaspoon and a half of sugar to balance the saltiness. And I added one tablespoon of that teriyaki sauce.

And then I added a tsp of chili garlic paste for insane flavor boosting power.

CHILI POWER ACTIVATE.

Saute your veggies in the oil for about 5 minutes, until they start to get soft.

Then add your delicious marinated (or not) chicken.

Add your sauce and cook until chicken is done and veggies at desired tenderness. About 4-7 minutes depending on your preference.

When it's done, stir in your celery leaves.

 I really liked the celery leaves.

Then serve over rice!

It was really good. And before the oyster sauce freaks you out, remember, Sean hates anything that has ANYTHING to do with the sea. But that one tablespoon of oyster sauce? He didn't even know it was there. He said it had tons of flavor, his only real complaint was (of course) the celery, and how spicy it was. And even I have to say, it was pretty spicy. But it was so good.

Now, let's talk about that marinade. Mom and Dad used to use this a lot when I was younger.

The one on the left is thin, like soy sauce, but with such a depth of flavor.. It's great, really really great. Normally, for me, the chicken is the most boring part of a stir fry. This time it was all I wanted to eat. The stuff on the right is thicker and also good in sauces. I love them both and I can't believe it's taken me so long to pick up a bottle of the thin stuff again.

"I love you, bro." "Me too, bro."

Me too, bros. Me too.

Here's the recipe.

Chicken with Pepper and Celery (adapted from here)

• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 5 cloves Garlic, Minced
• ½ cups Onion, Diced
• 2 whole Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cut Up For Stir Fry
• 3 teaspoons Fresh Ground Pepper, More Or Less To Your Taste
• ½ teaspoons Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce Or More To Taste
• 1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1 cup Celery Leaves, Chopped

Heat oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and onion stir until translucent, about 4 to 5 minutes.
Add the chicken, pepper, sugar, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Stir fry for 5-7 minutes or until the chicken is cooked thoroughly. At this point you can add up to 1/4 cup of water if the chicken is too dry.
Add the chopped celery leaves and mix well.
Serve over your favorite rice.

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I love food with asian flavors. I'm making chicken with 3 pea stir fry tonight. Should be good, I loooove snow peas and sugar snap peas.

Does anyone want to come over and cut up my raw chicken for me though?

Anyone?  Anybody?

Bueller?