Stir-fried Chicken with Pear

Yuan Mei’s recipe for this famous Hangzhou dish reads: ‘Cut tender chicken breasts into slices. Fry them first of all in 3 taels of lard until cooked, stirring three to four times. Add 1 ladle of sesame oil and 1 teaspoon each of thickening starch, salt, ginger juice and ground fagara. Add also thin slices of pear and small wedges of fragrant mushrooms and stir-fry 3–4 more times. Scoop from the wok and place on to a five-inch dish.’ I have adapted it, however, so that it uses peanut oil ra