For Year of the Monkey, try cooking up some chicken

Gung Hay Fat Choy (Cantonese); Gung Shi Fa Sai (Mandarin); Chuc Mung Nam Moi (Vietnamese); and Sun Nien Fai Lok! Now, “Open the new year — congratulations!” Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu! (Japanese)

On the lunar cycle, we also have the Jewish Passover coming, as well as the Christian Easter after Lent. In all the years when I wrote from the Corner weekly, I was even able to include community events. Now, once a month I must choose, and the luck of the draw is the Year of the Monkey.

My family were raised in Fresno with an international palate, and it seemed we had Chinese food about every Tuesday. The restaurant staff had our order ready for pickup within 10 minutes of our call, and it was always so good. I don’t know why we never ate in at the Jade Palace, but they knew us each by name, and presented us with a special box of exotic candies at New Year’s.

Stir fry is still a staple at my house, utilizing the wealth of good and fresh vegetables from farmers market in Cambria. At the request of folks who want to prepare small amounts, I present you with this dish from old Peking:

I don’t use a recipe anymore, and this one is so old it has yellowed, but gives you an approximate proportion which you may adjust to taste; I now prefer chicken thighs and others may choose tofu. For this dish I still prefer the green bells.

Cut chicken into 1-inch chunks and set aside. Blend soy sauce with cornstarch in a small bowl, then stir in the sherry, ginger sugar, salt and pepper flakes; set aside. Over medium high heat, stir fry the green peppers and onion in a wok or sauté pan about 2 minutes; set aside. Stir fry the walnuts 1-2 minutes until golden; set aside.

Add a tablespoon of oil to the pan and turn up the heat to high. Stir fry the chicken 2-3 minutes or until no longer opaque. Turn back the heat to medium high and pour in the soy sauce mixture, stirring until thickened. Add in the vegetables and walnuts and cook only until just heated through, about one minute. Serve with hot cooked rice.

Stir fry the chicken and vegetables as directed; keep warm. Eliminate the walnuts, and substitute  1/2 can of lychees, drained (reserve the juice for other purposes). Prepare a sweet and sour sauce of six tablespoons each of ketchup, white vinegar, and brown sugar with 3 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1 cup of water.

Bring the sauce to a boil until thickened, then add in the vegetables (sweet red pepper may be used).

Stir in the lychees at the last moment and pour over the prepared chicken and steamed rice on a serving platter.

Lychees are available in the Asian section, and at Cambria’s Cookie Crock. (The juice is nice added to vodka as a martini, and extra lychees are great in a fruit cup with mandarin oranges.)

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 11:01 AM with the headline "For Year of the Monkey, try cooking up some chicken."