Lunar New Year starts on February 10th this year. It is a 2 week celebration that is one of the most (raucously!) celebrated holidays of the year for the more than 1.5 billion people worldwide that celebrate. Think fireworks, parades, elaborate decorations, gifts, new festive outfits, and of course special foods. Dishes that symbolize luck and prosperity, long life, and family are especially popular. This 8 Treasure Rice is another classic Lunar New Year dish. Not to be confused with the dessert rice dish of the same name, this is super savory and packed with luxurious ingredients fit for a royal celebration. Juicy chicken thighs, scallops, dried shrimp, and shiitakes mingle with other goodies like roasted chestnuts, lotus root and crispy shallots. The eight treasures get quickly stir fried and then mixed into perfectly steamed rice. This is a feast for the senses, so let’s get into it!

Dried ingredients are usually more intense than fresh. Sun dried tomatoes, dried porcinis, dried herbs…they all lend a deeper flavor than their fresh counterparts. I make use of that in my 8 Treasure Rice with dried scallops, shrimp, and shiitakes. So I start this recipe by soaking them. (The rich soaking liquid will be used later on.)

Make sure to remember to save the soaking water!

Then I get the rice started so that it’s piping hot when everything else is ready. (If you need a refresher on making perfect rice, start here.) Traditionally, this dish is made with sticky rice and then wrapped in Ti leaves and steamed. This is a simpler version but if you feel inclined to soak and steam some sticky rice, that is a great option.

Once the rice is begun, I get everything prepped. I peel and dice the lotus root. It also gets soaked in water right until I start cooking because otherwise, like a potato, it will discolor.

When everything is prepped I gather it all within reach; it will be quickly stir fried. Closeup shot of all 8 of our treasures:

I also have the sauce ingredients at the ready as the sauce gets made directly in the pan while cooking.

Taste and add more salt or white pepper as needed. Now the only thing left do is to transfer the 8 Treasure Rice to a serving platter and garnish with the minced scallions.

If you want to round out your Lunar New Year meal try serving 8 Treasure Rice with Shanghai Bok Choy and Almond Cookies. Hopefully this becomes part of your family’s treasured traditions too. Let me know in the comments what you think, and tag us in your pics @funkyasiankitchen, we love hearing from you!

8 Treasure Rice

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• Author: Funky Asian Kitchen
• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: serves 4
• Category: appetizer
• Cuisine: Chinese

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Ingredients

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• 8 ounces boneless skinless chicken thigh, diced small
• ½ large onion, diced small
• 1 small carrot, diced small
• ⅓ lotus root, peeled, diced small, and soaking in water to prevent discoloration
• 3 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 6 dried scallops
• 3 Tablespoons dried shrimp
• ¼ cup cooked shelled edamame soy beans
• ½ cup roasted and peeled chestnuts, about 8 pieces
• 2 Tablespoons crispy shallots
• 2 Scallions, trimmed and minced
• 2 Tablespoons neutral oil
• 4 Cups freshly cooked rice

Sauce:

• 2 Tablespoons Oyster Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Shaoxing Wine
• 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
• A couple dashes Ground White Pepper

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Instructions

1. Soak the shiitake mushrooms, dried shrimp, and dried scallops in 2 cups of warm water for 20-30 minutes in a medium bowl (put something like a small dish on top of the ingredients to keep them submerged). Pour the soaking liquid into a separate container and save (You need 1 cup. If you don’t have enough soaking liquid, add a little water so you have 1 cup). Set the ingredients aside.
2. If you haven’t started making the rice yet, start it now. You want to use freshly steamed rice that is piping hot for this dish. 
3. Trim and discard the shiitake stem. Slice the mushrooms thinly and set aside.
4. Drain the lotus root just before starting to cook.
5. Heat a large pan over medium high heat and add the oil and chicken.
6. Let the chicken cook for 1 minute untouched and then break it up and stir fry for another minute. 
7. Add the onions and carrots and continue stir frying for another minute. Add the drained lotus root and shiitake mushrooms and stir fry for another couple minutes.
8. Add the sauce ingredients to the pan: Oyster sauce, soy sauce, shaoxing wine, and 1 cup of the reserved soaking liquid. 
9. Bring the pan to a  simmer and add the dried shrimp and the scallops. Stir the ingredients together. 
10. Add a couple dashes of the white pepper, stir, and lower the heat to medium. Cook for 4-6 minutes until the sauce has reduced by half.
11. Turn off the heat and wait for the rice to finish cooking.
12. Once the rice is ready, transfer it to a large bowl. Add the saucy ingredients, edamame, and chestnuts and gently combine the ingredients together using a slight chopping motion to prevent the rice from being crushed.
13. Add the sesame oil and crispy shallots and mix again.
14. Taste and adjust seasonings with a little salt and ground pepper as needed.
15. Transfer to a platter and garnish with the minced scallions.
16. Serve immediately.

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Notes

*This dish is delicious hot, warm, or room temperature.

*Cover and store any leftovers in the refrigerator. Gently microwave for several  minutes before serving.

*You can substitute any of the ingredients if they are difficult to source or you don’t want to bother. The idea is to keep the ingredients special. So you can use fresh shrimp and scallops instead of the dried, adding them in right after the sauce ingrdients. Use other vegetables such as diced snap/snow peas, wild mushrooms, or zucchini. And if you’re vegetarian, use tofu or a meat substitute for the protein along with a vegetarian oyster sauce or hoisin sauce instead of regular oyster sauce.

Keywords: lunar new year, chinese new year, rice

It’s that time of year! Bright green, succulent stalks of asparagus are at the market again. And my Chicken Asparagus Stir Fry is the best way to showcase them. Asparagus needs a quick cooking method to really let their delicate flavor shine, so a stir fry is ideal. Add a savory sauce and tender, marinated chicken and you have a complete meal, perfect to welcome Spring.

Marinate the Chicken

I usually use chicken thighs in recipes because I find them more flavorful, but breasts cook more quickly and this is a very fast stir fry dish. I infuse them with extra flavor by briefly marinating them before cooking. I add a little cornstarch to it as well, which helps create a velvety texture and also protects the chicken from the high heat that we’ll be using. This Chinese technique is a restaurant standard in producing tender, moist meats while still being able to use blisteringly high cooking temperatures.

I set the chicken aside to marinate while I get everything else prepped. You can also prep the chicken the day before and store it in the fridge until ready to use.

Chicken Asparagus Stir Fry Sauce

This classic stir fry deserves a classic sauce and we include all of the powerhouse ingredients like soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce, toasted sesame oil, and white pepper. Just whisk everything together and set aside. If you’ve noticed in most of my recipes, I like to make the sauce separately and then add it later to the dish. There are a couple reasons I do this.

First of all, it’s a habit. In restaurants, we never add a little of this and a little of that to make the sauce that goes into a dish. In a kitchen with many cooks, that’s the makings of a disaster. The only way to have consistency in food and having it taste the same all the time is by having the sauce prepped and ready to use. It’s the closest you can have to a guarantee that the food will taste the same each time.

Second, it’s too easy to forget something in the heat of the moment. When you have more that two or three things that go into a dish, it’s very easy to forget something when you’re busy. Better to know that your sauce is right there at your fingertips rather than scrambling to get the soy sauce or measure out the cornstarch as your chicken starts to smoke before your eyes.

And finally, I like to keep my kitchen as organized as possible while I’m cooking. I hate looking at the kitchen after I’m done cooking and seeing a mountain of clean up ahead of me. It takes a little bit of joy away from my meal. So once I make the sauce, I can put everything away before I start cooking.

Asparagus

While you can it most of the year now, asparagus is at its peak in Spring. Look for firm stalks, with tightly closed tips. Stay away from discolored stalks or any packages that look wet. I prefer fat spears of asparagus if I have a choice. They have better flavor and texture and they have good heft for a stir fry. But the bottom line is freshness. Get whatever looks the best at the market.

The bottom couple inches of the spears are too tough and woody to eat, so first you need to remove it. If you bend a spear, it will snap in the exact right spot. I can quickly snap through the bunch in a minute. If you find this tedious, you can snap one and then eye ball where to cut off the ends with the knife. Just hold the bunch in one hand and cut off all of the ends in one shot. Once you’ve discarded the woody ends, cut the spears into short lengths and set aside.

Stir Fry Time!

Now that the chicken is marinated, the sauce is ready, and the asparagus is prepped, it’s time to stir fry. Remember the cardinal rules of stir frying, which are especially important in this Chicken Asparagus Stir Fry because it’s so quick:

• Prep all your ingredients and have them within reach.
• Preheat your pan first. (FOR SEVERAL MINUTES)
• Then add the oil.
• Keep it moving!

Now I continue cooking until the sauce is thickened and the chicken is cooked through, which is just a minute or two. Altogether the cook time should only be about 5 minutes. You can’t beat that!

Love how quickly stir fries get dinner on the table? Check out:

• Broccoli Beef
• Mongolian Lamb
• Thai Basil Chicken
• Pork w/ Garlic Chives

When you try this delightful Spring stir fry, let me know that you think. Rate and leave a comment on the recipe below, and tag us in your pics @funkyasiankitchen, we love seeing your creations!

Chicken Asparagus Stir Fry

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• Author: Funky Asian Kitchen
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 5 minutes
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: serves 2-3 1x
• Category: Main
• Cuisine: Chinese

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Ingredients

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Stir Fry:

• 1 pound asparagus
• 2 Tablespoons neutral oil
• 2 cloves garlic minced

Marinated Chicken:

• 12 ounces chicken breast
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 Tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon neutral oil
• 1 teaspoon oyster sauce

Stir Fry Sauce:

• 1 Tablespoon Shaoxing wine
• 1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• ½ cup chicken stock 

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Instructions

Marinate the chicken:

1. Cut the chicken breast in half lengthwise.
2. Slice the chicken into thin pieces.
3. Combine the sliced chicken, cornstarch, water, oil, and oyster sauce in a medium bowl and mix well until the chicken absorbs the mixture. 
4. Set the chicken aside while you prep the other ingredients.

Make the sauce:

1. Mix the shaoxing wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, ground white pepper, sesame oil, cornstarch, and chicken stock together.
2. Stir to combine.
3. Set the sauce aside, leaving a fork in the sauce so you can stir it again later.

For the Stir Fry:

1. Rinse the asparagus and remove about 1 1/2 inches of the tough bottom ends. (If you bend a stalk, it will snap right off).
2. Cut the asparagus into 1 1/2 inch pieces.
3. Heat a large 12 inch pan over high heat for several minutes. Add 2 Tablespoons of oil and swirl the pan to coat.
4. Lay the chicken slices in the pan in one layer and let it cook undisturbed for 20 seconds and then use a pair of tongs, chopsticks, or spatula to stir fry it another 30-40 seconds until the chicken is almost cooked but still a little underdone. 
5. Add the asparagus and garlic to the pan.
6. Stir fry for 30 seconds moving the contents of the pan around constantly. Lower the heat to medium high.
7. Stir the sauce again to make sure the cornstarch hasn’t settled to the bottom of the container and add the sauce to the pan. Mix to combine. 
8. Continue stirring, letting the sauce bubble and thicken, cooking for another 1-2 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked.
9. Taste and adjust seasonings with a little salt or pepper if needed.
10. Transfer to a large plate and serve immediately.

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Keywords: asparagus, stir fry, chicken , chinese, spring, Shaoxing wine