Musical Meals: Life On Planets – Chicken Vegetable Stir-fry

We return with a new Musical Meals piece featuring Life On Planets so you can cook something up to maybe calm nerves or just stress eat. NYC producer Life On Planets gives us a healthy recipe, plus a playlist to match. He chefs up some Chicken Vegetable Stir-Fry and matches it with some music by Kaytranada, Migos, Detroit Swindle, Mateyo and more to set the mood for your fine meal. The world and our democracy may be on fire, but you can at least enjoy one last good meal.

Life On Planets had a great end of 2020 musically. He released a smooth and sumptuous EP on Kitsuné with Taylor Bense Glowstick, plus a single "Grateful" on Studio 54 Music. 

The rest of the feature is him breaking down the recipe and pairing it with the right songs to go along with the cooking. Stream the playlist as you go along. 

"Let's start things off with “Stir Fry” by Migos. I love to draw on hip-hop flows for inspiration and throw it over housey productions…Migos plus Pharrell? The perfect gateway into any experience frfr.

So I used to make stir-fries and think of it as an easy dinner to fall back on. It's the perfect fridge cleanup meal. But I would always feel that something was off, be it the way the vegetable got over-cooked or maybe the flavors were never quite hitting. They always say to use high heat but then things start to burn. I finally took to Reddit and found this recipe from Cooksmarts and feel pretty good about my stir fry game now.

Play “What You Need” by Kaytranada, another influence in pairing hip-hop with dance.

The Ingredients for a stir-fry can be super versatile. 

For the Stir-Fry I used:
Two Chicken breasts
An Onion
A little Ginger
The last carrot
Bok Choy on its last legs
That last bit of cabbage you've been waiting to use for weeks
A Radish
Some frozen Peas
Brown Rice

Hit the latest from my homie Mateyo, “With Me” featuring Baltimore's rapper with the golden touch, DDM. They always bring the special sauce when we play live together.

For the sauce:
Half cup water or broth
3 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
3 Cloves of garlic
1 1/2 tbsp Corn Starch
1 Tbsp Rice Vinegar

Chop up your protein and veggies, heat your pan and add 2 Tbsp Oil. I used avocado oil.

Hit “Dark Side” by Thor Rixon & Deep Aztec and throw your protein on for 2-4 minutes to brown it. And watch their new music video if you have a screen in the kitchen! Flip the protein to coat it in oil and let it get brown on the other side. It doesn't have to be fully cooked through.

Remove the protein from the pan, wipe any remaining oil out and then add a fresh 1 1/2 tbsp of oil and throw in your "aromatics"– in this case onion and ginger. Cue up the “Only You” remix from Dudu Bembé and me until you can smell them in the air.

Add your veggies while you bop to “Flavourism” from Detroit Swindle and Seven Davis Jr. I like to get my firmer vegetables like carrots and cabbage tender and add peas and delicate leafy vegetables like bok choy tops closer to the finish.

I made some rice ahead and love how it soaks up the flavor of the sauce when fried. Let it cool in the fridge for a few hours ahead if possible. It cooks up better once it has had a chance to firm up. I'll add this after the veg gets a little tender. Get it hot and add your protein back in.

Pro tip: keep some extra stock on hand. If things start to stick to the pan, toss it a little to get things moving again. If you don't have broth, water works.

Once everything is nice and steamy, make a circle in the middle of the pan. Stir your sauce up and pour it into the hole. Let it bubble a bit before you stir and mix it all together! Add any delicate vegetables now, (spinach, peas, etc) cook until tender.

Garnish with whatever you have on hand. Lime, lemon, parsley, sesame seeds, seaweed seasoning, rice crispies…

Serve! Keep some salt, soy sauce or kewpie on hand for adjusting the flavor to taste!