Real Sichuan Chinese Kung Pao Chicken
You just might never order Chinese takeout again.
Having had the good fortune to travel to Sichuan province, birthplace of the famous Chinese dish, Kung Pao Chicken, I’m familiar with how the dish should be. And really, it’s not that hard to make it authentic and delicious. So it bothers me not a little that so many Chinese takeout places mutilate this dish by throwing some chicken and random filler vegetables (huge slices of bell pepper, onion, carrots, etc) together, maybe with a little hot sauce, and calling it Kung Pao.
Good mise-en-place is essential for stir frying as the dish comes together so quickly.
Kung Pao chicken is a simple dish packed with the fiery hot flavor of dried chiles and aromatic Sichuan peppercorns, with peanuts and scallion whites adding a crunch. No carrots, no bell peppers, no water chestnuts. Do those random vegetables at the takeout place add anything at all? I once ordered a couple stir-fry dishes from some place in Chinatown, and each one had like 7 different vegetables. Is there anything holding the dish together at this point?!
Stir-frying dried chilies and peppercorns
In proper Kung Pao chicken, the chicken chunks and peanuts will take on a lovely reddish brown shade, from the dried chiles coloring the oil as they’re stir-fried, and mixing in with the sauce to glaze the dish.
Adding the peanuts and glazing over with the sauce
Luckily, I have a recipe from Fuchsia Dunlop’s Land of Plenty
Heat & Knives
The Recipe
Source: Land of Plenty
2 boneless chicken breasts, with or without skin (about 2/3 pound total)
3 cloves of garlic and an equivalent amount of fresh ginger
5 scallions, white parts only
2 tablespoons peanut oil
a generous handful of dried red chiles (at least 10), preferably Sichaunese
1 teaspoon whole Sichuan pepper
2/3 cup roasted unsalted peanuts
For the Marinade:
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon Shaoxing rice wine or medium-dry sherry
1 ½ teaspoons potato flour or 2 ¼ teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
For the Sauce:
3 teaspoons sugar
¾ teaspoon potato flour or 1 1/8 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
3 teaspoons Chinkiang or black Chinese vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon chicken stock or water
Cut the chicken as evenly as possible into 1/2-inch strips and then cut these into small cubes. Place in a small bowl and mix in the marinade ingredients.
Peel and thinly slice the garlic and ginger, and chop the scallions into chunks as long as their diameter (to match the chicken cubes). Snip the chiles in half or into 2-inch sections. Wearing rubber gloves, discard as many seeds as possible.
Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl—if you dip your finger in, you can taste the sweet-sour base of the gong bao flavor.
Season the wok, then add 2 tablespoons of oil and heat over a high flame. When the oil is hot but not yet smoking, add the chiles and Sichuan pepper and stir-fry briefly until they are crisp and the oil is spicy and fragrant. Take care not to burn the spices (you can remove the wok from the heat if necessary to prevent overheating).
Quickly add the chicken and fry over a high flame, stirring constantly. As soon as the chicken cubes have separated, add the ginger, garlic, and scallions and continue to stir-fry for a few minutes until they are fragrant and the meat is cooked through (test one of the larger pieces to make sure).
Give the sauce a stir and add it to the wok, continuing to stir and toss. As soon as the sauce has become thick and shiny, add the peanuts, stir them in, and serve.
Other Chinese recipes:
Savory Chinese Braised Pork Belly
Chinese Boiled Beef in Fiery Sichuan Broth
Hot-and-Numbing Dried Beef & Sesame Beef
Sichuan Dry Fried Beef Slivers
December 20th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
This is my favorite dish. I usually just go to one of those cheap takeouts but seeing how easy it is to make. I am considering to invest and buy a wok and the ingredients. Thanks for the recipe, and keep on writing more.