Chicken with Mom's Black Bean Sauce - Gluten-free Takeout Fake Out!

Gluten-free chicken with black bean sauce in a lettuce cup

One of the challenges of living gluten free is finding safe substitutes for takeout classics, especially if, like me, you grew up on Chinese takeout. Sometimes, though, you can find solutions in the unlikeliest of places.

Mom recently gave me her old recipe book, packed with ideas that she cut from magazines or copied into the pages. As I skimmed through it, I found the recipe for Mom’s black bean sauce - always one of my favorites. Naturally gluten-free, it's still just as good!

I used it to make gluten-free chicken with black bean sauce this time, but you can also make it ahead and keep it for a couple of days in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed before you use it.

Here’s the original copy (look at how neat her handwriting was!) My update is below.

Mom's original recipe - look how neat her handwriting was!

Ingredients for the sauce

1 T sesame oil

2 garlic cloves finely chopped.

1 can of black beans, drained

2.5 cm (1-inch) long piece of ginger, peeled and grated

1 T cornstarch mixed with 1 T cold water

½ cup water

1 large scallion/green onion, green and white parts sliced into thin rings and separated

Ingredients for the chicken

2 Chicken breasts or equivalent dark meat (your preference) thinly sliced

1 lb fresh sliced mushrooms (I used button mushrooms, but shitakes and other kinds also work)

2 T soy sauce

Fresh crushed Garlic and fresh grated ginger to taste

Frozen or fresh peas

Heat the oil and sauté the garlic and the white part of the scallion. Add the beans and lightly bash them with the back of a spoon.  Add the cornstarch/water mix and stir it all around, then add the rest of the water. Let it bubble over a low heat until it thickens (just a few minutes). Add the grated ginger to taste and stir it in well.

In the meantime, slice some chicken breasts and stir fry in oil until almost cooked through. Add the mushrooms and soy sauce, garlic and ginger and mix. Cover and cook over medium heat until the mushrooms start to shrink. Add in the black bean sauce, mix well and, cook till the mushrooms are reduced and have absorbed the sauce. Add the peas and stir well, until the peas are just cooked through but still bright green.

You can serve this gluten-free chicken with black bean sauce over rice, over noodles, plain in a bowl, or as I did this time, in lettuce cups. A delicious taste of childhood, still as good as ever!