<p>I just realized that I described my woks a “cast iron.” They aren’t–they are probably carbon steel. Anyway, now they are all nicely blackened in the middle. I only have an electric cooktop, and I cook a lot of authentic Chinese, Thai, and Indian food, amongst others. Haven’t been able to afford to replace it, install propane, and remodel the kitchen. A bigger problem for me is the inadequacy of the vast majority of kitchen fans to cope with wok cooking.</p>
<p>Regarding stir frying chicken, Barbara Tropp would have you marinate it for a few hours at least, then “velvet” it. A typical marinade is one egg white, 1 Tbs of cornstarch, 1 tsp kosher salt, and 1 Tbs rice wine or dry sherry to 1 lb of boneless chicken breast, cut for stir fry. Velveting is blanching in 275F oil or boiling water for about 20 seconds, just before stir-frying the whole dish. Velveted chicken has a unique texture and absorbs very little oil in cooking.</p>
<p>She would have you velvet the chicken and set it aside. Then stir fry the vegetables until barely cooked–adding them in order of cooking time if necessary, then scrape out into a dish. Then heat the wok again until the drop of water dances, add a little peanut oil, toss in your aromatics (minced garlic, ginger, scallion, hot chili flakes or Chinese chili sauce), stir fry for a few seconds until aroma explodes, add chicken and stir fry briefly, then add vegetables and stir fry briefly, then add sauce ingredients (for example: 3 Tbs of hoisin mixed with 1 1/2 tsp rice wine or sherry and 2 tsp soy), stir fry to coat everything and you’re done.</p>
<p>You could do basically the same thing but use a bottled sauce. Just don’t drown it. I concur that Lee Kum Kee is a reliable, widely available brand, especially if you don’t have access to Asian markets or the interest in delving into really learning how to cook Chinese food “from scratch.”</p>