We had claypot rice with chicken last night, I used drumettes minus the generous chunks of breast meat attached to them. I collected those chunks, cut them into strips, seasoned and velveted them overnight in the fridge. Then, I cooked them with julienned chayote and carrot with a sauce that tastes part-Vietnamese and part-Thai.

What does velveted mean? It means marinating the chicken in a mixture of seasonings, liquid, oil and starch. As the chicken sits overnight in the fridge, these ingredients change the texture of the meat and gives it a soft, bouncy and velvety texture.

Velveting is a popular preparation technique in Chinese cooking. I didn’t use to bother thinking that it couldn’t be a big deal. I have since changed my mind. Velveting is a big deal. It makes a simple homecooked dish as good as restaurant food. Yes, really. So, don’t skip it.

Before describing the cooking process, let me just give an introduction to one ingredient that gives this dish its magnificent aroma. Kaffir lime leaves. They come in pairs. They are light green when still young and turn darker as they mature. Choose young leaves for cooking this dish as mature ones can be rather fibrous unless cooked for a long time. But this dish only requires five minutes to cook so you want leaves that will be perfectly edible even when cooked for a short time.

To prep the kaffir lime leaves, fold them to expose the midrib. Hold the midrib by the tip and gently tug it downward to remove completely. Discard the midrib and cut the kaffir lime leaves. For this dish, I cut them into strips.

Take your velveted chicken out of the fridge (don’t worry — the velveting process is described in detail in the recipe below), julienne a carrot and a chayote, thinly slice a shallot, chop some garlic and make the sauce.

For the sauce, you’ll need freshly squeezed lemon (or lime or calamansi) juice, honey, chopped garlic, sliced chili, fish sauce and kaffir lime leaves.

Now, the cooking. Heat oil in a wok or frying pan, spread the chicken in the oil and cook over medium heat, stirring, to separate the pieces. You’re not cooking the chicken meat all the way at this point. It’s chicken breast, it cooks fast, so, as soon as they lose the starchy appearance, you’re ready for the next step.

Adding vegetables and sauce to chicken in wok

Turn up the heat, add the julienned carrot and chayote, the sliced shallot and some chopped garlic. Stir fry for about half a minute then pour in the sauce.

Cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes or just until the sauce has been soaked up by the chicken. The starch that coats the chicken will get mixed into the sauce and thicken it. The combination of the starch and sauce will give each piece of chicken a lovely glossy appearance. Just add scallions, toss them in and you’re ready to enjoy your lemon honey chili garlic chicken with hot rice.

Lemon honey chili garlic chicken

Connie Veneracion

The sweet-sour-salty sauce is a mixture of three tablespoons lemon juice, two tablespoons honey and a teaspoon of fish sauce. Feel free to tweak the ratio for a balance that pleases your palate.

The chicken meat is cut into thin strips so the velveting should be done in a hour. It won't hurt though to velvet the chicken overnight in the fridge.

Print it!

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 5

Velveting time 1

Total Time 1 15

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian

Servings 3 people

Ingredients

Chicken

1 ½ cups chicken breast fillet (skin on) cut into thin strips
2 tablespoons potato starch
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
2 tablespoons Shao Xing wine or substitute cooking sake

Vegetables

1 carrot peeled and julienned
1 chayote peeled, cored and julienned
1 shallot peeled and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic peeled, chopped and divided into two portions

Sauce

3 tablespoons lemon juice or lime or calamansi juice
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 pairs kaffir lime leaves midribs removed and leaves thinly sliced
1 bird's eye chili thinly sliced

To cook and garnish

1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
1 tablespoon cooking oil must have a high smoke point
sliced scallions

Instructions

Place the chicken in a mixing bowl.
Mix together the starch, salt, sesame seed oil and wine. Pour over the chicken and mix well.
Transfer the chicken to a covered container and allow to "velvet" for an hour or up to overnight in the fridge.
Prep all the vegetables.
Make the sauce by stirring together all the ingredients plus half of the chopped garlic.
Heat the oils in a wok or frying pan.
With the heat set to medium, spread the velveted chicken in the hot oil. Use chopsticks or kitchen tongs to separate them.
Cook the chicken for a minute or two, or until the surface turns glossy.
Turn up the heat to high, and add the chayot, carrot, shallot and remaining garlic. Stir fry for half a minute.
Pour in the sauce and stir.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has been soaked up.
Garnish with scallions and serve.