Moo Goo Gai Pan — The Chinese-American Classic for the Pre-Thanksgiving Sunday

Mid-November. Cody is on day three hundred and twelve of his sentence. Thanksgiving is a week and a half off. Mama and I have started planning the November dinner the way we planned Easter — six people again this year. Aunt Tammy is driving down. Mrs. Tilford. Mrs. Henderson, who would otherwise be at her son’s in Stillwater but whose son’s family is going to Galveston this year. Mr. Briggs and Linda. The menu: turkey, Mama’s cornbread dressing (Grandma Carol’s recipe), mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, scratch cranberry sauce, scratch pumpkin pie, dinner rolls. I have started making the rolls in advance and freezing them. The pumpkin pie is for Wednesday so the crust can rest in the fridge before baking Thursday morning.

And the recipe Sunday was moo goo gai pan. Aunt Tammy has been talking about moo goo gai pan since I was small — she had a Chinese-American friend in Pittsburgh in the 1970s who taught her the dish, and Aunt Tammy used to make it once a month at her own house in Tulsa for years. I had never tasted it. Aunt Tammy mentioned it again at the chapbook reading in August. I picked the Mel’s Kitchen Cafe version off the search results in October. Sunday was the day to try it.

Moo goo gai pan, in the way Mel wrote it, is chicken breast cubed and stir-fried with sliced mushrooms, snow peas, water chestnuts, and a few cloves of garlic, in a light savory white sauce. The sauce is the part that makes the dish — chicken broth, soy sauce, oyster sauce, a touch of cornstarch slurry to thicken, ginger, garlic, a small drizzle of sesame oil at the end.

The math: a pound of chicken breast on the markdown rack $3.49, a small package of sliced cremini mushrooms $1.99, a bag of fresh snow peas $1.99, a small can of water chestnuts $0.89, garlic and ginger from the kitchen, soy sauce, oyster sauce $1.99 for the small bottle (a pantry investment that will last a year), chicken broth from bouillon, sesame oil from the small bottle in the fridge. Total: about $10.40 for a dinner that fed Mama and me for two nights.

The technique is the velveting and the quick stir-fry. The velveting is the trick: you toss the cubed chicken with a tablespoon of cornstarch and a teaspoon of soy sauce in a bowl and let it sit for fifteen minutes. The cornstarch creates a thin coating on the chicken that, when stir-fried, produces the silky tender exterior characteristic of Chinese-American chicken stir-fries.

You stir-fry the velveted chicken in a hot wok or cast-iron skillet for three minutes until just cooked. Set aside. Stir-fry the mushrooms two minutes. Add the snow peas and water chestnuts for one minute. Add the garlic and ginger for thirty seconds. Pour in the sauce mixture (chicken broth, soy sauce, oyster sauce, cornstarch slurry). Simmer ninety seconds until the sauce thickens. Return the chicken. Toss. Drizzle with sesame oil off the heat.

You serve over white rice. Mama said, when she ate this Sunday night, baby, this tastes like the takeout your aunt used to bring me when she lived closer. Aunt Tammy, when I called her Monday morning to tell her I had finally made moo goo gai pan, said, baby, you have crossed a kitchen border that I am proud of you for crossing. I am.

The recipe is below. The trick is the velveting — cornstarch on the chicken before the stir-fry. The oyster sauce is the small ingredient that turns this from a generic chicken-and-vegetables dish into the actual Chinese-American classic. Do not substitute.

Moo Goo Gai Pan

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced thin
• 2 cups white button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup snow peas, trimmed
• 1 cup water chestnuts, drained and sliced
• 1/2 cup bamboo shoots, drained
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons cold water
• Salt and white pepper to taste
• Cooked white rice, for serving

Instructions

1. Marinate the chicken. Toss sliced chicken with 1 tablespoon soy sauce, a pinch of white pepper, and 1 teaspoon cornstarch. Let sit for 10 minutes while you prep the vegetables.
2. Make the sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together chicken broth, remaining soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. In a separate small bowl, stir cornstarch into cold water until smooth. Set both aside.
3. Cook the chicken. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chicken in a single layer and cook without stirring for 2 minutes, then stir and cook until just cooked through, about 2–3 more minutes. Transfer to a plate.
4. Stir-fry the vegetables. Add remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add garlic and ginger and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes. Add snow peas, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots and stir-fry for 2 more minutes until vegetables are crisp-tender.
5. Bring it together. Return chicken to the pan. Pour in the sauce mixture and stir to coat everything. Give the cornstarch slurry a quick stir and pour it in, stirring constantly as the sauce thickens, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.
6. Serve. Taste and adjust salt and white pepper as needed. Serve immediately over white rice.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 280 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 720mg