A First Stir Fry For Toddlers
How your go-to takeout spot for Chinese food manages to get even nubbins of white meat chicken to feel, well, velvety on the tongue is precisely how you get small children to eat breast meat yourself. Velveting is the cooking equivalent of what conditioner is to shampoo: it creates a soft and silky texture while ensuring sauce sticks to your meat.
You’re probably thinking that means a process; you’re not entirely wrong. But it’s so entirely elemental that the effort and expertise required is only a little more involved than the poaching method described above–in fact, not only is there poaching in this one (a briefer one) but you could stop right at the poaching and still. So it’s a bit more, but it’s also ridiculously easy to get great results. It goes like this:
- Cut chicken into small strips or cubes, then mix with oil, liquid seasoning (i.e., soy sauce), cornstarch, and a pinch of sugar. Marinate for 30 minutes.
- Bring a pot of water to boil; once bubbling, add in your chicken pieces and cook for 45-60 seconds if using thigh and/or thinly cut pieces or 60-80 seconds if using breast and/or thicker cut pieces.* Remove from heat and place chicken pieces in a colander or strainer to drain.
- Cook chicken in a wok or sauté pan for 1-2 minutes on Medium; pour sauce all over and mix.
(*To cook fully via poaching–and thus skip step #3–just leaving chicken pieces in the pot of boiling water for an additional 30-45 seconds: i.e., 75-90 seconds for small/thigh pieces, or 90-120 seconds for thicker/breast pieces.)
Let’s put velveting to work in a quick stir fry that gives your kid everything he/she needs–lean protein, vegetables, grains–in a simple and delicious way. Bright and buttery is the focus of our stir fry sauce, so it’s great for toddlers; if you’ve got older ones and/or you think your child can handle something more conventional, up the soy sauce and 86’ the butter and orange.
Recipe will produce enough food for three or four diners; halve proportions if cooking solely for one adult and one child.
Ingredients
Instructions
Prep
- Cut the chicken breasts into long thin strips or small cubes; place into large bowl.
- Over the top of the chicken, pour in the cornstarch, baking soda, soy sauce, sugar, and oil; separate egg yolk from whites and pour whites into bowl. With a spoon or your hands, mix until all pieces are coated. Cover and allow to marinate for 30-60 minutes.
- While the chicken marinades, slice the red pepper into long strips and break the broccoli into small florets, with minimal stem on each.
- Mix teriyaki, one teaspoon of soy, and a big squeeze of orange in a small bowl. Set aside.
Cook
- Fill a pot about halfway full with water and bring to a boil; add chicken pieces and cook for 60-90 minutes. Remove pieces and drain excess liquid from them via a colander.
- Heat a skillet or wok on Medium High; coat with sesame oil. Once smoking, place broccoli florets and red pepper strips and cook until browned, roughly 3-4 minutes. Add chicken in and cook for an additional minute, stirring constantly.
- Lower temperature to Low and push chicken and vegetables to one side. Place the pat of butter on the empty portion of the wok/pan; once it melts, pour your teriyaki sauce over the butter and mix. Once the sauce starts bubbling, pull the chicken and vegetables through it and toss/stir until pieces are coated. Remove from heat.
Serve
Place a few pieces of chicken and vegetables over or next a small mound of rice, then zest a bit of orange peel over the top (or squeeze a bit more orange if your child might be revulsed by the sight).
Adapt
Any combination of vegetables will work; pick the ones your child prefers–just do two for both familiarity and color variety. You can make beef and broccoli using most of the same techniques here: see our recipe for how. Pro tip: place cooked rice into wok, then drop the leftover egg yolk on top; stir to mix yolk into rice, then cook for roughly 30-45 seconds.
