Monday, August 8, 2011

Suburban Kung Pao Chicken

Kung pao chicken was my favorite dish in China.  It was often the only thing that didn't have chicken heads or fungus mixed in with it.  Just kidding, almost.  Anyway, I have never ever made it before now but I had a serious hankering for some so I went to the store determined to come out with all of the fixings to make my beloved dish.

That was a huge failure of a shopping trip.  The grocery stores around here stink.  They think that an ethnic aisle should have soy sauce, rice, and tons of kosher food.  This doesn't work well for me, and it also doesn't help that in MN I can't check out the liquor dept on a Sunday to see if they have any rice wine there, since there is some outdated sabbath-inspired law that sends a lot of Minnesotan money over to Wisconsin.  Anyway, I made this recipe out of ingredients that anybody should be able to find in their adequately-stocked grocery store.

Rating 9/10


Ingredients


  • 1 lb chicken- chopped into 1 inch cubes

Marinade

  • 1 egg white- frothed
  • 1/8 cup dry white wine (I used up some leftover Riesling)
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 1/2 tsp corn starch

Flavor makers

  • 1 tablespoon ginger- thinly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon garlic- thinly sliced
  • 8-10 dried chili peppers
  • 4 green onions- chopped into thin rings (reserve some of the green for garnishing the finished dish)
  • 4 teaspoons black bean sauce (this comes in a squat jar in the ethnic aisle by all of the soy sauces)

Sauce

  • 1/4 cup dry white wine
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
  • 1 tablespoon corn starch
  • 1 teaspoon white vinegar
Extras
  • roasted unsalted peanuts
Marinate the chicken for 30-60 minutes
Heat up a wok and place the chicken and its marinade in it- stir fry until chicken is cooked through
Once the chicken is thoroughly cooked add in the "flavor makers" and continue to stir fry for another minute
Pour the sauce into the wok and stir to coat the chicken and other ingredients
Top with peanuts and green onion garnish
Serve immediately, probably with some sticky rice!

1 comment:

Merut said...

No rice wine at the grocery store? Ugh. Our ethnic aisle is pretty bare as well. Mostly it just holds tons of rice. It sucks having to go to more than one place to find all of the ingredients for one measly meal. But it looks like you pulled it off, because your kung pao chicken looks excellent, especially paired with the melon smoothie.