Ginger Chicken, "Gai Pad Khing"

 gai = chicken 
 pad = stir-fried 
 khing = ginger 

So this dish is chicken stir-fried in ginger. This is a simple, quick meal that could equally be made with pork or beef, or even shrimp, or for the vegetarians, tofu marinated in a mixture of dark soy and fish sauce for flavor. 

It is cooked in a hot wok - the peanut oil used for cooking should be at the smoking point. However if this makes you a little nervous it doesn't suffer from being cooked a little cooler. If you do use a lower temperature, then the garlic should be sauteed in the oil before the chicken is added, to bring out the flavor. At high temperature this would result in burnt (and very unpalatable) garlic flakes in the food, so you add the garlic with the chicken, not before it. 

Because of the high temperatures you will need to move swiftly from step to step. Therefore we strongly recommend that you put the ingredients on plates ready to add them - you won't have time to measure ingredients once things start to move. 

Ingredients

3 tablespoons of peanut oil 
1 tablespoon chopped garlic 
1 cup chicken, cut into bite sized pieces 
1 cup mushroom, sliced 
3 tablespoons grated ginger 
2 tablespoons fish sauce 
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce 
2 tablespoons oyster sauce 
a pinch of sugar 
3 tablespoons chopped onion 
2-3 Thai chile peppers 
3 tablespoons scallion/green onion, cut into 1" pieces 
Thai pepper powder

optionally you can add a cup of jalapeno peppers

The bulbs of 3/4 scallions, and some cilantro/coriander leaves for garnish 

Method

Mix the fish sauce, soy and oyster sauce ready for use, 

Bring the oil to the smoking point in an adequately large wok, and add the chicken and garlic, and stir fry until the chicken begins to change color (this is quite quick, so don't overcook). 

Add the sauce and stir until it returns to a bubbling consistency, then add the remaining ingredients, and stir until the chicken is cooked.

The recipe for pork is identical, beef if it is used should be marinated in a mixture of 2 tablespoons of whiskey and the fish sauce, soy sauce and oyster sauce, which should be retained after marination to be added to the cooking.

Sprinkle Thai pepper powder over the dish and serve over Thai jasmine rice, or in a serving bowl with other Thai dishes.