Cubing Chicken Breasts

A few easy cuts transform a boned chicken breast into small, uniformly-shaped cubes that stir-fry evenly and quickly. For visual harmony, cubed ingredients should be combined with other chunky ingredients, such as nuts, not with sliced or shredded vegetables. Cubed chicken breast can be stir-fried with cubed cucumbers for a variation of Spicy-and-Sour Cucumber Salad. In fact, it is excellent in any salad, Chinese or not. Or mix it with diced carrots, cashew nuts, zucchini or other crisp vegetables, or snow peas. Use it in soups, as a garnish for broth (page 325) or in wonton soup, for a more substantial meal. Cubed chicken should be blanched in boiling water for 30 seconds before it is added to soup.