Sunday 10 May 2009

Kung Po Chicken - quick chinese fix

Sichuan Kung Po chicken (by Christ tell)

Kung Po (also spellt Kung Pao)was one of the grades for officials in China. The inventor of this chicken dish was a "Kung Po" official in China who named the dish according to his grade.
This makes a great hot dish that doesn't demand too much time... Don't skip the dried chilis, they are really adding something... I like this dish very very very hot!

INGREDIENTS for two

- 2 large chicken breasts cut in strips (vegetarians/vegans use Quorn)
- (1/2cup) water chestnuts (optional)
- 1 handful unsalted roasted peanuts (Monkey nuts 20 min oven 200degC then peeled)
- or you can use cashew nuts
- 5 dried Chinese chilis cut in half (they are the ones looking like mini red bell peppers). Remove the seeds if you think it's too hot for you.
- a handful of runner beans or green beans cut in strips

For the sauce:
- 4 tablespoons white wine

- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch (dissolved in 2 tablespoons water)
- a tblpn hot chili paste (chili oil)
- 2 tblpn rice vinegar
- 4 tsp golden syrup

- 4 green onions, chopped
- 1 garlic clove chopped
- 2 tablespoon minced ginger (optional)


DIRECTIONS

Make the Sauce: In a small bowl combine wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch/water mixture, chili paste, vinegar and golden syrup. Mix together and add green onion, garlic.
Kung Po chicken
In a small wok, heat sauce slowly until aromatic. (you can use the sauce as a marinade for the chicken and then cook it if you prefer)
Kung Po chicken

Saute
the chicken in a large skillet until the meat is opaque and white and the juices run clear
Sichuan Kung Po chicken (by Christ tell)
Add dried chilis (water chestnuts and) peanuts and runner beans, cook a few minutes more.
Sichuan Kung Po chicken (by Christ tell)
Add the sauce,
Sichuan Kung Po chicken (by Christ tell)
Let simmer together until sauce thickens.
Sichuan Kung Po chicken (by Christ tell)

Kung Po chicken

Source: my experience of the dish in restaurants + various sources


18 comments:

Moka said...

Voilà une délicieuse recette !

Anonymous said...

Delicious Kung Pao chicken and gorgeous pictures!

pigpigscorner said...

Wonderful pictures! Looks really yummy with rice.

Simones Kitchen said...

This looks absolutely delicious!!

unconfidential cook said...

I love that this doesn't have 40 spices that I don't have! Thanks!

Rico said...

I love KungPo is lovely and that dish is really well executed. and I can see the wok is properly seasoned and well used ..nice to see that. :) xx

Angie's Recipes said...

Kung Pao chicken looks very tempting, and this is one of my fav. Szechuan dishes.
Noticed that you have many Asian recipes here....and even those Cantonese restaurants Dimsum pix made me hungry. Lesson learned: don't read a delicious food blog on an empty stomach.

Sid Khullar said...

I do like Kung Po Chicken!

Anonymous said...

Wonderfully shot and I'm sure it tastes as good as it looks! Love the site... bravo!

mycookinghut said...

This is great! I like it very very hot too!!
Need to make this one day! Delicious dish!
Well done!

Christina Kim said...

Looks so tasty!! Who needs takeout when we can just make it at home??

Shari said...

This looks excellent. I've seen and eaten this in restaurants but yours looks even more delicious! Great mix of ingredients! Thanks for sharing.

Jun @ IndoChine Kitchen said...

Kung pao chicken is my most favorite dish in Chinese restaurants. It is so odd that chinese restaurants in Indonesia don't have that - or at least in my area they don't.

Never had the ones with water chestnuts and peanuts though. That is a great twist.

Love the first shot of the dish still in wok. Beautiful photo.

Ilan said...

The crowd demands more! :)

ICook4Fun said...

This is a classic Chinese dish here in America :)

zerrin said...

This looks absolutely mouth watering. I love chicken with soy sauce and dried chili is a great idea to enhance it more. I'll eat this very very hot just like you.

Christelle said...

To Moka, 5starsfoodie, pigpigscorner, mycookinghut , junglefrog, expatriategame, Ilan, Sid Khullar, zerrin, Christina Kim:
Thanks for your comment :)

To Ricardo: Indeed, well spotte ;)

To Angie's Recipes:
humm, yes, I do make the mistake to browse on an empty stomch, no good! ;)

To Jun @ IndoChine Kitchen: Interesting, I'm surprised the dish is not on Indonesian menus...

To Shari@Whisk: a food blog :
awww thanks!!! *blushing*

To ICook4Fun: It's a classic here too, but for some odd reason, nobody cooks it, and everybody gets it at resto and take away when it's sooo easy to make...

test it comm said...

Kung po chicken is really good. I like the use of the golden syrup in this one.