Chicken with long beans and Job's tears rice
Chicken strips stir-fried dry with long beans and garlic, served over rice cooked with Job's tears — damp-draining, filling and satisfying without a heavy meal.
- 50 min
- Serves 2
- Stir-fry
- Easy
Why it suits you: Phlegm-damp people tend to be heavy-set and feel weighed down in body and head, and the steamy heat of the Summer Solstice leaves them especially drowsy. Long beans strengthen the spleen and resolve damp, and Job's tears drain water in place of some of the rice. Lean chicken fried dry, with little oil and no gravy, won't sit heavily.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 35 min- 1Soak the Job's tears for 2 hours, rinse with the rice and cook together in a rice cooker with your usual amount of water.
- 2Marinate the chicken with 1 tsp soy sauce, the cornflour and a little oil for 10 minutes. Blanch the long beans in salted boiling water for 2 minutes and drain.
- 3Heat the oil in a wok, fry the garlic and tangerine peel until fragrant, then stir-fry the chicken until white. Add the beans and stir-fry over high heat for 2 minutes until dry.
- 4Toss with the remaining soy sauce, check the seasoning and serve with the Job's tears rice.
Cautions
- Always cook long beans through; raw beans contain natural toxins that can cause nausea and stomach pain.
Chef's tips
- Blanching the beans first speeds up cooking and keeps them green; soak the Job's tears the night before so they cook up soft.
The TCM view
Long beans are sweet and neutral, strengthening the spleen, settling the stomach and resolving damp. Job's tears are sweet, bland and slightly cold, draining water and damp and strengthening the spleen. Chicken is sweet and warm, boosting qi; tangerine peel is pungent, bitter and warm, regulating qi, drying damp and resolving phlegm. Strengthening the spleen while draining damp suits phlegm-damp types in the humid solstice heat.
