Chicken Kung Pao

Recipe for traditional Chinese Chicken Kung Pao

Chicken Kung Pao is a classic dish of Chinese Sichuan cuisine: a delicious combination of marinated, fried chicken, roasted peanuts, chili and Szechuan pepper. Usually, the oil is flavoured with pepper and dried chilli.
The Sichuan cuisine from the south-west of China is the only kitchen that combines all the spicy spices (chili, ginger and pepper) within a dish.

Ingredients for 4 persons

500 g chicken breast fillet
80 g peanuts
4 large red chillies (e.g., fresh Cayenne Chilis or 8 Birdeye Chilis, to taste)
4 spring onions
60 g fresh ginger
3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp Szechuan pepper
5 dried Sichuan Facing Heaven Chilis
1 tbsp of Chinese rice wine
5 tbsp peanut oil (for frying)

For the marinade:

2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp of rice wine
1 egg white, slightly frothy
a pinch of salt
1 tsp corn starch

For the sauce:

100 ml chicken broth
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp of rice wine
2 tsp vinegar (rice vinegar)
2 tsp of cane sugar
1 tsp corn starch

Preparation

Cut the chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes.
Marinade: In a medium bowl stir together the soy sauce, rice wine, starch, salt and egg white until the corn starch is dissolved. Add the chicken and stir gently to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 15 to 30 minutes.
Sauce: In another bowl stir together the ingredients for the sauce (chicken broth, dark soy sauce, rice wine, vinegar, cane sugar and starch) and set aside.
Remove the stems and seeds of the chillies and cut into eighths. Peel and finely chop the ginger and garlic cloves. Clean the spring onions and cut into fine rings.
First, in a heated pan and very little oil, roast the peanuts and set them aside.
Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the peanut oil and swirl to coat the base. Add the dried  Sichuan chillies and the Sichuan pepper and stir-fry for about 5 minutes, or until the chilies have just begun to blacken and the oil is slightly fragrant. Then remove these.
Add the fresh chillies, garlic and ginger, and stir-fry them briefly. Add the chicken and stir-fry until no longer pink, 2 to 3 minuteswhile drizzling in the rice wine. Add the spring onions and stir for another 30 seconds, then pour in the sauce and mix to coat the other ingredients.  Finally, add the peanuts, remove from the fire and serve immediately hot. They are best served with jasmine rice.

Image source: Fotolia - # 99711199 - Kung Pao on wood background © Alex Bayev