Kung Pao Chicken

Ingredients:

2-3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1" sq "cubes"
1/2 yellow or sweet vidalia onion, diced
6-8 button mushrooms, sliced or quartered
1 Tbs ginger, finely chopped
1 Tbs garlic, finely chopped
2-3 Tbs peanut oil or garlic chili oil

Chicken marinade:
Egg white from 1 egg
1-2 Tbls DARK soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch

Basic Chinese brown sauce:
2 Tbs light soy sauce
2 Tbs shaoxing cooking wine
2 Tbs water
1 Tbs sambal ooleck
1 Tbs hoison
1 Tbs oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 Tbs cornstarch, heaping, stirred in until dissolved


Dice all veggies (Optional- red or green sweet peppers, green onions, peanuts, or different mushroom types) and garlic and ginger. Dice chicken into chunks. Optional- season chicken with Chinese 5 spice. Create marinade by pouring dark soy sauce into bowl, then add egg white.

Add teaspoon of cornstarch to a bag, add chunks of chicken to bag and shake, then add to marinade and stir so all pieces are coated. Optional- add a single star anise seed to cook with chicken

Add all ingredients for Chinese brown sauce in a pyrex measuring cup or bowl, so all ingredients are ready to go.

Heat wok to medium high to very high. Add peanut oil. Add dried chilis for 30-45 seconds and remove with slotted spoon, or just use garlic chili oil which is already spicy. Keep chilis in the serving bowl. Add marinated chicken to oil (I commonly strain the chicken first to remove excess egg white).

Let chicken sit for 30-45 seconds. Then flip the pieces, and you'll see they've developed a dark golden brown crust. Depending on heat and size of chicken chunks, cook for 5-6 total minutes, jostling chunks every 30 seconds, then remove with slotted spoon. Add to serving bowl with chilis.

Add onion to oil and toss for a minute, then add mushrooms and cook for 2 more minutes. Add sweet peppers for last minute if using. Optional- deglaze with 1 Tbs of shaoxing for final 30 seconds. Remove veggies to serving bowl, with chicken and chilis.

Add ginger and garlic to remaining oil, sautee for 45 seconds, then add chinese brown sauce mixture (stir before adding so cornstarch incorporates correctly). Allow 20-30 seconds for sauce to thicken then add all ingredients from serving bowl and turn down/off heat and stir so all ingredients get sauced up. Pour back into serving bowl and serve with white rice.

Add Dark Soy Sauce to bowl 

 

Prep all ingredients, then add chicken to egg white marinade for at least 15 minutes

Use the same bag that the veggies came in to toss chicken chunks to coat in cornstarch before adding to marinade

Once all the ingredients are ready to go, heat up the wok and fry chicken in batches if necessary to ensure they aren't overcrowded (if doubling recipe, for instance)

Use more chilis or crack them in half to release the seeds to increase the heat. And peanuts at the end of veggie process if you like that. 

[pic of finished dish coming soon]

Also, to make it really much more authentic, add schezuan peppercorns to wok while heating to roast them, then grind them with pestle or grinder and sprinkle on top of finished dish.