Kung pao chicken
Kung Pao Chicken is a dish originally from the Sichuan province of China. There are quite a few versions of this dish that use peppers, onion, or, less often, other vegetables. I tried to make this dish as similar as possible to the original as it might be served in Sichuan. I used dried red, not the hottest chili peppers, Sichuan pepper, rice vinegar, and Shaoxin food wine, which give the food a special taste and aroma. When preparing this dish, you have to make sure that the chicken does not go into the pan with the marinade, it can make the food rather sticky, which tastes very good, but Kung Pao chicken should be slightly crispy and not sticky. By following the instructions below, you can prepare a delicious and spicy dish.
Preparation time: 30 minutes marinating the chicken, 15 minutes preparations, 10 minutes frying.
Level: Not too difficult
Quantity: For two to four
Ingredients:
Marinating the chicken
250 g of chicken fillet
0.5 teaspoon of starch
1 tbsp Shaoxin cooking wine or rice wine
1 tablespoon of rice vinegar
1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
Vegetables and peppers
A handful of green onions cut into lengths of about 1 cm
3 medium cloves of garlic, finely sliced
About 3 cm piece of fresh ginger, finely sliced
6-7 dried red chilies, medium hot
0.5 teaspoon Sichuan pepper, if desired, it can be crushed
Sauce
1 teaspoon of starch
1 tbsp Shaoxin wine or rice wine
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of rice vinegar
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
About 20 ml of water
Cooking oil for frying
A handful of roasted and unsalted peanuts, if they are not available, salted nuts are also suitable.
Preparation:
- Cut the chicken fillet or chicken drumstick into small pieces you like, add starch, soy sauces, rice vinegar, Shaoxin wine, mix and leave to marinate for 30 minutes
- Cut the dried chili peppers into pieces of about 1 cm, remove most of the seeds
- Slice the garlic and ginger, chop the onions.
- Heat 3-4 tablespoons of cooking oil in a wok over medium heat. Further action must be taken very quickly.
- Keep the marinated chicken ready, pour off most of the marinade so that the chicken is drier. Keep chilies and Sichuan pepper on hand
- When the oil is hot, pour the chili peppers and Sichuan pepper into the pan and immediately add the chicken and mix quickly. If you don’t act quickly, the chili peppers will burn and the food will be bitter and unpleasant.
- Fry for about 30 seconds, then add the garlic and ginger, stir, and fry for about 1 minute, stirring constantly, then pour the onion into the pan, stir, and pour the peanuts into the pan.
- Mix the food and add the sauce to the food, mix, and 30 seconds later remove the pan from the stove.
- Serve food with basmati rice or noodles.
Ready!!
