Frost's Descent · Dinner · Yang Deficiency
Walnut chicken stir-fry with ginger choy sum
Dry-toasted walnuts stir-fried with diced chicken and red pepper, with ginger-dressed choy sum on the side — warming and fragrant.
- 27 min
- Serves 2
- Stir-fry
- Easy
WarmingWarms kidney yangDispels cold
Why it suits you: Yang Deficiency means feeling the cold, often with a cold, achy lower back and knees. Walnuts warm the kidneys, chicken warms the middle and ginger juice chases cold from the stomach — a fragrant stir-fry that warms without overheating as Frost's Descent cools.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 12 min- 1Toss the chicken with the soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and cornflour and leave for 10 minutes. Toast the walnuts in a dry pan over low heat for 3–4 minutes until crisp, then cool.
- 2Cut the choy sum into lengths and blanch in boiling water with a drop of oil for 2 minutes. Plate and drizzle with half the ginger juice.
- 3Heat the oil and fry the garlic until fragrant. Stir-fry the chicken over high heat until almost cooked, then add the pepper and the rest of the ginger juice for 2 minutes.
- 4Toss in the walnuts just before taking it off the heat and serve with the ginger choy sum.
Cautions
- Avoid if you are allergic to tree nuts.
Chef's tips
- Dry-toasting the walnuts instead of deep-frying keeps them crisp with far less oil. Add them last so they stay crunchy.
The TCM view
Walnut is sweet and warm, supporting the kidneys and lungs and easing the bowels; chicken is sweet and warm and builds qi; fresh ginger is pungent and warm and dispels cold; red pepper is sweet and warm and whets the appetite. Sweet and warm overall, it supports kidney yang without heat.
