In My Mother's Kitchen: Chinatown Almond Chicken
North Dakota was not a hot spot of ethnic dining when I was growing up. There was one decent Mexican place and an acceptable Chinese-American place that started out across the river in East Grand Forks and moved into Grand Forks proper after the flood. And... that was about it while I lived there. The Onion back in 2003 made fun of the state as a cultural backwater that doesn't even have a Thai restaurant (true at the time), but they could just have easily used Indian food, sushi, pho or a host of other things that I can eat in Cleveland. Honestly, I'm not sure we even had an Italian place that was good enough to have stayed open in Cleveland, let alone in Cleveland's Little Italy district. I do seem to have vague memories of going to a Benihaha style Japanese restaurant with the floor show in Fargo once when I was a kid. If I recall correctly, we didn't even have the incredibly low standard of a Chinese buffet place until I was in high school. There was a good German place in Bismarck that I remember fondly... you get the idea.
While my family definitely made an effort to eat at more authentic restaurants on our travels, the ethnic food I ate most growing up was probably my mother's spin on stir fry, which she made about monthly. I don't know where this recipe came from, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that it was from a package of soy sauce or something along those lines.
Chinatown Almond Chicken
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp corn starch
3 Tbsp water
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1/3 cup cooking sherry
1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 package frozen snow pea pods, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 onion or 3-4 green onions, chopped
1 can bamboo shoots OR water chestnuts (I greatly prefer bamboo shoots)
1/4 cup chopped almonds
Cut chicken into 1/2" cubes.
In bowl, mix ginger and cornstarch. Blend in water, soy sauce and sherry.
Heat 1 Tbsp oil and stir-fry vegetables (except pea pods). Remove vegetables from heat.
Heat 1 Tbsp oil and stir-fry chicken.
Add in cooked vegetables, pea pods and sauce mixture. Stir-fry until hot and glazed.
Sprinkle with chopped almonds.
Serve over white or brown rice.
This recipe is in the cookbook my mother assembled for me. She notes that you can substitute all sorts of other vegetables. She calls out bok choy, peppers, zucchini, radishes and carrots specifically. I've made this a few times in years past, but there are so many other better stir fry recipes in my arsenal now that may never make this recipe as written again, especially as I'm not a huge fan of almonds.
Outside of ethnic food, the closest thing to a high end restaurant in Grand Forks was a steakhouse called the Bronze Boot (now closed). For prom I took my date to a nicer restaurant called the Peartree which was attached to a hotel. Even chain restaurants were somewhat limited. I know a lot of people who drove the hour down to Fargo for special anniversary dates at Olive Garden or Red Lobster, both of which have since come to Grand Forks but weren't there when I grew up, and which are nobody's idea of fine dining outside North Dakota. You can quickly understand how the Grand Forks Herald food critic Marilyn Hagerty went viral for reviewing the new Grand Forks Olive Garden, because outsiders just don't get it.
While my family definitely made an effort to eat at more authentic restaurants on our travels, the ethnic food I ate most growing up was probably my mother's spin on stir fry, which she made about monthly. I don't know where this recipe came from, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that it was from a package of soy sauce or something along those lines.
Chinatown Almond Chicken
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp corn starch
3 Tbsp water
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1/3 cup cooking sherry
1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 package frozen snow pea pods, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 onion or 3-4 green onions, chopped
1 can bamboo shoots OR water chestnuts (I greatly prefer bamboo shoots)
1/4 cup chopped almonds
Cut chicken into 1/2" cubes.
In bowl, mix ginger and cornstarch. Blend in water, soy sauce and sherry.
Heat 1 Tbsp oil and stir-fry vegetables (except pea pods). Remove vegetables from heat.
Heat 1 Tbsp oil and stir-fry chicken.
Add in cooked vegetables, pea pods and sauce mixture. Stir-fry until hot and glazed.
Sprinkle with chopped almonds.
Serve over white or brown rice.
This recipe is in the cookbook my mother assembled for me. She notes that you can substitute all sorts of other vegetables. She calls out bok choy, peppers, zucchini, radishes and carrots specifically. I've made this a few times in years past, but there are so many other better stir fry recipes in my arsenal now that may never make this recipe as written again, especially as I'm not a huge fan of almonds.
Outside of ethnic food, the closest thing to a high end restaurant in Grand Forks was a steakhouse called the Bronze Boot (now closed). For prom I took my date to a nicer restaurant called the Peartree which was attached to a hotel. Even chain restaurants were somewhat limited. I know a lot of people who drove the hour down to Fargo for special anniversary dates at Olive Garden or Red Lobster, both of which have since come to Grand Forks but weren't there when I grew up, and which are nobody's idea of fine dining outside North Dakota. You can quickly understand how the Grand Forks Herald food critic Marilyn Hagerty went viral for reviewing the new Grand Forks Olive Garden, because outsiders just don't get it.