Chicken & Broccoli Stir-Fry with Brown Rice

Ingredients

• 600 g chicken breast, sliced thin
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 320 g brown rice, cooked
• 400 g broccoli, cut into small florets
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• Pickled cucumber, to serve
• Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

1. Toss the chicken slices with the cornflour and a generous pinch of salt until every piece is lightly coated — the cornflour is what gives you that silky, glossy finish once it hits the hot oil.
2. Get the brown rice on first: it takes 25–30 minutes, longer than everything else combined. Cook in well-salted water so the grains carry their own seasoning rather than relying on the sauce to do all the work.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large wok over high heat until it properly shimmers and you see the first wisp of smoke. Stir-fry the chicken in two batches — pile it all in at once and the wok temperature crashes, water leaches out, and you've poached the meat instead of searing it. Leave each batch undisturbed for 30 seconds at a time so it picks up real colour, about 4–5 minutes per batch until golden at the edges and cooked through. Lift out and set aside.
4. Add the broccoli to the hot wok with a splash of water. Stir-fry for 3 minutes — the water flashes to steam and cooks the florets through while the dry heat catches the edges, so you get vivid green with proper char marks rather than sad grey-green.
5. Add the garlic and ginger and toss constantly for 30 seconds, just until fragrant. No longer — burnt garlic turns the whole wok bitter, and at this heat it goes from pale gold to acrid in seconds. Watch it.
6. Return the chicken to the wok and pour in the soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil. Toss everything together for 30 seconds so the sauce reduces slightly and clings to every piece rather than sitting in a puddle at the bottom. Taste — most of the salt comes from the soy, but check now and adjust before it hits the plate, not at the table.
7. Spoon the brown rice into bowls, pile the chicken and broccoli on top with all the glossy sauce, scatter generously with toasted sesame seeds, and finish with a squeeze of lime over each bowl — the acid cuts through the soy and lifts the whole thing.