I love making stir fry at home during the week. It’s usually done in one pot and you can be creative with it. My mom loves making stir fry during the week because of how quick you can do it. I love using cucumbers making stir fry because it adds freshness to the dish and also easy to make. Hence, this cucumber chicken stir fry has been one of my go to stir fry dishes to make during the week.

What is a stir fry?

Stir fry is basically a cooking method where everything is cooked in one pot on relatively high heat and fried with a bit of oil. There is usually not a lot of liquid involved in the cooking process. It is slightly different than boiling, steaming or frying in that the food is cooked in small amounts of oil. This method of cooking keeps the ingredients fresh without taking away too much of the natural flavours.

Stir frying originated in China and is not really a region specific technique as many parts of China uses stir fry as a method of cooking. Then this method spread throughout Asia and beyond.

Where did cucumber chicken stir fry come from?

This is not a traditional dish that belongs to a specific region. I would classify it as Chinese home cooking, where you would just take ingredients in your fridge and combine them.

In my previous post, I’ve combined lemon and chicken to make lemon chicken stir fry so this is a variation where I used cucumbers instead. This is something I whip up when I want something quick and goes well rice because a stir fry can combine vegetables and protein together. This means that I don’t have to cook anything extra, just one dish that it’s done!

Ingredients

1 lbs chicken thighs (0.5 lb boneless thighs or breast)

Marinade

½ tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp oyster sauce
½ tsp dark soy sauce
½ tsp corn starch
pinch of white pepper
½ tsp sugar

Vegetables

1 tbsp minced garlic
1-2 thai chilis optional
½ cucumber cut into bite size pieces
Cut scallions

How to make it

Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and into a bowl.
Put in soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, corn starch, white pepper and sugar into the chicken. Mix and set aside for 10 minutes
Cut the cucumbers into bite size pieces. Slice some garlic and Thai chili, set aside.
In a pan or wok, add some oil and heat on medium high
Add in garlic and stir fry for 1 minute. Add in marinated chicken and stir fry for about 5 minutes.
Add in the cucumbers and Thai chili and stir fry for another 5 minutes
Sprinkle some scallion and serve with rice.