Haam Choy Chow Gai (Chicken with Pickled Mustard Greens)

I always thought I didn't really care for Cantonese cuisine. Give me Sichuan! Give me Hakka! Give me something with chilies and spices and big, bold flavours! My perception of Cantonese cooking has always been that it tends to involve a lot of steaming and very mild, carefully balanced flavours. Nothing should be fried, nothing should be crispy, nothing should be too strongly flavoured. Ideally things should be soft and/or gelatinous. And that just... never really appealed to me. But I've been trying a few more Cantonese dishes lately, and I've actually really enjoyed them!

I really liked this mustard green dish. Even if it was a bit too salty. That's what I get for not reading the full recipe preamble. They did mention that you should rinse and taste the pickled mustard greens if you were using store-bought rather than making your own:

"If you use store-bought haam choy, you will want to give it a good rinse and also taste it because it is much saltier than homemade."

I missed that memo though and just dumped them straight into the wok. Whoops!

It was still tasty even with that small glitch. But it definitely would've been even better without the overpowering saltiness.

I ended up using an adorable vegetarian chicken as the "meat" component of this recipe. Feel free to use actual chicken if you have it (or tofu or seitan). I had vegetarian chicken, so that's what I used.

The author also notes that this dish is often made with bone-in chicken that has been chopped into bite-sized pieces. The bones add extra flavour and richness, but some people may not enjoy having to eat around the bones. The recipe is written for boneless chicken, but feel free to experiment with bone-in if you have a whole bird and a cleaver!

I had a bit of trouble finding the Chinese/Hanzi/汉字 name for this dish. The original recipe only gave the transliteration of the Cantonese name + the English name. Luckily I was able to able to ask for some help with that on a language-learners' Discord server. So, based on that, it looks like the dish is called 咸菜炒鸡.
Hanzi/汉字: 咸菜炒鸡
Pinyin/拼音: xiáncài chǎo jī
Transliteration of Cantonese: haam choy chow gai
English/英文: fried chicken with pickled vegetables/mustard greens

Haam Choy Chow Gai

From Woks of Life

Ingredients

Chicken

• 450g boneless skinless chicken thighs and/or breasts, cut into 3cm pieces
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. light (regular) soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1 tsp. oil
• 1/8 tsp. white peppercorns, ground
• 1 tsp. cornstarch (cornflour)

Everything Else

• 1/2 c. chicken stock
• 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1 tsp. light (regular) soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp. sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/8 tsp. white peppercorns, ground
• 1 tsp. cornstarch
• 2 tsp. water
• 3 Tbsp. oil, divided
• 2 slices ginger (~8g total), smashed w/ cleaver
• 225g pickled mustard greens, cut into 1cm by 2cm pieces), rinsed if using store-bought
• 3 cloves garlic (~20g total), smashed w/ cleaver
• 1 green onion, cut into 3cm pieces, smashed w/ cleaver, green and white parts separated
• 1-3 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 2 tsp. 绍兴酒 (Shaoxing wine)

Directions

1. Combine chicken, water, soy sauce, oyster sauce, oil, and white pepper. Mix well, cover, and set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, combine the chicken stock, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and white pepper and set aside.
3. Combine the cornstarch (for the "everything else") with the water to make a slurry and set aside.
4. After 30 minutes, add the cornstarch to the chicken and mix well.
5. Heat wok over medium-high heat.
6. Drizzle in 2 Tbsp. of the oil and swirl to coat.
7. Add the ginger and stir-fry for 15-30 seconds.
8. Add the pickled mustard greens and stir-fry for a minute or so.
9. Add the garlic, white parts of the green onion, and chilies and stir-fry for 30-60 seconds.
10. Move the contents of the wok over to the sides to create a clear spot in the middle.
11. Turn the heat up to the highest setting and add the remaining 1 Tbsp. of oil to the clear spot in the centre.
12. Add the chicken in a single layer and sear for 1 minute on each side.
13. Toss everything together so it doesn't burn.
14. Drizzle the 绍兴酒 (Shaoxing wine) down the sides of the wok and stir-fry for another 10-15 seconds.
15. Add the sauce, push everything into the centre of the wok, and reduce heat to low.
16. Cover and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
17. After a few minutes, sauce should be significantly reduced. Add more liquid or more cooking time (uncovered) as needed to achieve the desired consistency.
18. Increase heat to medium and add the green parts of the green onion.
19. Stir the cornstarch slurry to make sure it hasn't settled and add it as well.
20. Cook for another 30-60 seconds.
21. Served with rice.

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Variations

Vegetarian Version

I believe this should be vegan too as long as you can be a bit careful about the pre-made components and sugar. Double check your soy sauce, "oyster" sauce, pickled mustard greens, and sugar to make sure they're vegan and you should be good to go!

Ingredients

Protein

• 450g extra-delicious tofu, seitan, or vegetarian chicken, cut into 2cm pieces
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. light (regular) soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. vegetarian oyster sauce
• 1 tsp. oil
• 1/8 tsp. white peppercorns, ground
• 1 tsp. cornstarch (cornflour)

Everything Else

• 1/2 c. vegetable stock
• 1 Tbsp. vegetarian oyster sauce
• 1 tsp. light (regular) soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp. sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/8 tsp. white peppercorns, ground
• 1 tsp. cornstarch
• 2 tsp. water
• 3 Tbsp. oil, divided
• 2 slices ginger (~8g total), smashed w/ cleaver
• 225g pickled mustard greens, cut into 1cm by 2cm pieces), rinsed if using store-bought
• 3 cloves garlic (~20g total), smashed w/ cleaver
• 1 green onion, cut into 3cm pieces, smashed w/ cleaver, green and white parts separated
• 1-3 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 2 tsp. 绍兴酒 (Shaoxing wine)