Snowy Scallions – Chicken with Hoisin Sauce

It was early spring and snow still blanketed the ground, melting a little during the warmer daylight hours and freezing again when the sun sank below the horizon. I had a craving for Chicken with Hoisin Sauce, a Chinese stir fry I made on repeat during my early years of cooking. The problem was the scallions, or more specifically, the lack thereof.

To make Chicken with Hoisin Sauce you marinate cubes of boneless chicken breast in soy sauce, Shaoxing cooking wine, sesame oil, and a pile of chopped scallions before cooking. But I didn’t have any scallions. My wife suggested skipping the scallions, but I couldn’t do that; I’m a rule follower and it wouldn’t taste the same.

I wasn’t going to go all the way to the grocery store just for scallions, but there was another possibility. I’ve grown scallions in the garden for years. Those from the previous year, scraggly, frozen, and unusable during the cold winter, begin to grow again in spring as the sun warms up the soil; they are some of the first plants to emerge in the early spring. In my garden they grow through spring and flower in summer, eventually dropping their seeds which sprout into next year’s crop. There have been scallions in the same spot in my raised beds for many years, with almost no effort from me, and they are harvestable all year long, with the exception of the absolute coldest winter months.

So possibly, albeit unlikely, I thought, there would be some semblance of scallion I could scavenge from the garden. Outside I went, into the cold with snow crunching under my feet. I moved layers of snow and chunks of ice and there I found the growing stalks of scallions, not as perfect or abundant as they would be a few more weeks into spring, but green and crisp and good enough that I could avoid a trip to the supermarket and enjoy the dinner I desired. I picked what I could, cleaned them up, and they were perfect. Not because they were the best scallions I had ever eaten, but rather, because they were scallions from my garden, that I grew, that I could pick at a time when I shouldn’t have been able to harvest anything – in the snow.

I chopped them and added them to the marinade, saving a small handful to sprinkle over the top as a garnish to make this not particularly attractive dish more appealing. I was thankful my garden supplied what I needed to make dinner complete, even with the ground covered with early spring snow.

Chicken with Hoisin Sauce

I’ve been making Chicken with Hoisin Sauce since I was a teenager. It is a perfect dinner with steamed or fried rice and a vegetable on the side, perhaps Ginger Broccoli or Vinegar-Slithered Green Cabbage. The recipe originates from a Chinese cookbook I can no longer identify. While the original stir fry includes only chicken, adding to or replacing some of the meat with julienned vegetables wouldn’t be out of line.

serves 4, about a half hour

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 1 lb., cut into 1-inch cubes

6 scallions, white and green parts finely chopped, 1 Tbsp. of greens reserved for garnish

4 Tbsp. soy sauce

1½ Tbsp. Shaoxing cooking wine or dry sherry

1½ tsp. sesame oil

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced

5-6 cloves of garlic, minced

¼ cup hoisin sauce

3 Tbsp. sugar, or more to taste

1. Mix the chicken, scallions, soy sauce, Shaoxing cooking wine, and sesame oil in a bowl and allow to marinate at room temperature for at least 15 minutes and up to an hour.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or heavy-bottom skillet on high and add the ginger and garlic. Stir until just softened, about a minute. Add the hoisin sauce and sugar and stir to combine.
3. Add the chicken, along with the marinade. Cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through, about 7 to 8 minutes.
4. Serve hot, garnished with reserved scallion greens.

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