Tasty Tuesday--Five Spice Chicken Stir Fry

This is my take on our favorite meal at our favorite Chinese restaurant in Charleston, Red Orchids. If you are from around here, you have to try this place. It's yummy, authentic goodness. It was voted Charleston's Best Chinese. Yes, it is located in between a Big Lots and Cititrends, but don't let the location discourage you! 

I'm pretty sure the professionals at Red Orchids steam their chicken, but that scares me. Theirs is delicious, but I don't know if I could pull off steamed chicken. So, I marinated mine and stir-fried it. The five spice blend is what makes this so amazing. It consists of cinnamon, star anise, fennel, peppercorn, and cloves. You can buy it premade at the grocery store. 

I made two batches of the marinade, one for the chicken, and then a second to quickly toss the veggies in before stir-frying them. 

*remember, make two batches of the below marinade, separated*

2-3 lbs. chicken tenderloins, cut in pieces

1 head broccoli, cut in pieces

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 green bell pepper, sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, sliced

Marinade:

1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon garlic powder (or two garlic cloves, pressed)

2 teaspoons five spice powder

1/4 teaspoon ginger (1 teaspoon if using freshly grated)

1 tablespoon white wine

Whisk together all of the above ingredients for the marinade. Add the chicken and marinate for at least an hour, up to over night. Add chicken to Wok (or large frying pan) and cook over med-high heat, discarding used marinade.  While chicken begins to cook, toss veggies with the second batch of marinade to coat. After about 5 minutes (or once chicken begins to brown), add the veggies to the chicken, cover, reduce heat and cook another 5 minutes or so, until chicken is cooked through and veggies have desired tenderness. Serve over brown rice.