My mother’s approach to cooking is “use what you’ve got and put it all together,” so oftentimes her cooking didn’t taste the same twice. It was frustrating, but sometimes her cooking would turn out amazing.

Tonight, I thought I’d go with her way of doing things, since I didn’t have everything to make the broccoli and chicken stir-fry I have in my favorites on foodgawker. So here’s how it went:

Ingredients:

• Broccoli
• Marinated chicken (I have no idea what my mom marinated it in, I just know I was supposed to cook it)
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• Soy Sauce
• Patis (Fish Sauce, it’s available in any Asian market or if you’re lucky you can find it in the Asian section of your supermarket. I think the most common brand is Tiparos)
• Water
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cooked jasmine rice

Directions:

• Grill or fry chicken, put aside (I’m pretty sure I overcooked it, due to fear of salmonella/Escherichia coli. I’m not too scared of germs, but when it comes to chicken I’m petrified. But I’m okay with tasting cookie dough with raw egg in it, go figure)
• In a wok (or something similar) with oil (I used coconut oil) cook onions and garlic until onions are translucent.
• Then add broccoli and drizzle with soy sauce and patis to your liking. (Yeah… it’s not an exact science with my mom’s method). Also add some water.
• Cook broccoli for a minute or two then add the chicken.
• Add more soy sauce and patis. Also add more water if you want it saucy. (Geez this is a really terrible recipe)
• Then cook broccoli until tender. (My dad prefers the broccoli soft because he’s old and has dentures. Just kidding, he’s not old, but he does have dentures)
• Serve over cooked jasmine rice. Or the rice of your choice. Or with wheat toast, which was the way my dad had it because he wasn’t feeling like having a super high reading on his blood sugar test thing.
• Enjoy!

Results:
It turned out pretty good, though a little bland. I think I was being too conscious of my dad’s salt intake. Still paranoid about salmonella though. If I haven’t blogged tomorrow, please let my epitaph