Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry

Spring is coming early this year — the redbuds are budding a full week before they usually do, and I noticed wild onion shoots pushing up along the creek bank south of Claremore when I drove out to check the deer stand Saturday morning. Two weeks earlier than last year. The land is moving faster than the calendar.

Hannah is coordinating this year's wild onion gathering. Last year thirty families attended. This year she is expecting forty, because the nutrition program has grown and word travels in the Cherokee community when something is being done right. She has been on the phone all week with gathering site coordinators, with the Cherokee Nation event office, with an elder from Tahlequah who knows the land east of Claremore better than anyone and who Hannah wants to be present to teach the younger families about which plants are mature and which need more time.

I am looking forward to this gathering the way I look forward to things that have become part of the annual structure of who I am — not with excitement exactly but with recognition. Wild onion gathering is part of my year now. It is part of what I do and who I do it with and what it means to be the specific person I am. That is what traditions become when they stick: they become part of the definition of you, not something you do but something you are.

Luna is coming this year for the first time, at two years old. She is old enough. She is more than old enough. She is going to crouch next to every plant and examine it for three minutes each, the way she examines everything, and she is going to pull onions with that precise two-year-old grip, and she is going to report the results to me as if I needed to know. I am already looking forward to the report.

I started drying this year's wild onion supply before we even gather it — bought a small mesh drying rack from the kitchen supply store and hung it in the garage, ready. Danny's grandmother's method. This is the year I do it right from the beginning instead of improvising in October.

Once the onions are in the garage on that mesh rack, drying slow the way Danny’s grandmother would have done it, the question becomes what you make first with what you gathered. This stir fry is my answer for the weeks right around the gathering—fast enough for a Tuesday night when Hannah is still on the phone with the event office, and good enough to feel like it means something. I swap the scallions for wild onions, dried or fresh depending on what I have, and that one change makes the whole dish feel like it belongs to this specific time of year and not any other.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, sliced thin against the grain
3/4 lb fresh green beans, trimmed and halved
1/2 cup wild onions (or scallions), roughly chopped—fresh or reconstituted dried
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons neutral oil (avocado or vegetable), divided
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Cooked rice, for serving

Instructions

Make the sauce. Whisk together the soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, honey, and cornstarch in a small bowl until smooth. Set aside.
Sear the chicken. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat until shimmering. Add the chicken in a single layer and cook undisturbed for 2 to 3 minutes, then stir and cook another 2 minutes until cooked through and lightly browned. Transfer to a plate.
Cook the green beans. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add the green beans and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 5 minutes until they are tender-crisp and beginning to char in spots.
Build the aromatics. Push the green beans to the edge of the pan. Add the garlic, ginger, and wild onions to the center and cook for 60 seconds, stirring constantly, until fragrant.
Bring it together. Return the chicken to the pan. Pour the sauce over everything and toss to coat. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes until the sauce thickens and everything is glossy and well combined. Add red pepper flakes if using.
Serve. Spoon over steamed rice and serve immediately. If you have dried wild onions, crumble a small pinch over the top of each bowl before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry — A Taste Worth Gathering For