Recipe - Kung Pao Chicken From Chinese Cooking (Very Good)

1 Chicken breast; (about 1
lb.), skinned, boned and
cubed
2 teaspoon Cornstarch
3 tablespoon Light soy sauce
Salt
One half Egg white; lightly beaten
1 sl Ginger root; smashed and
minced
3 Dried red chile peppers;
seeds removed
1 Green bell pepper; cut into
1 inch squares
1 small Onion; cut into 1 inch
squares
1 Clove garlic; smashed and
minced
1 Green onion; minced
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine; or dry
sherry
2 teaspoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Vinegar
3 tablespoon Stirfried peanuts*** or
roasted peanuts
Water
Peanut oil

PREPARATION: In a small bowl, combine cubed chicken, 1 teaspoon cornstarch,
1 tablespoon soy sauce, One half teaspoon salt, egg white and ginger. Set aside
for 20 to 30 minutes. On a platter, arrange prepared chiles, green pepper,
onion, garlic and green onion. Set aside. In a small bowl, combine 1
teaspoon cornstarch, wine, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, sugar and vinegar. Set
aside. Have peanuts, salt, water and oil at hand.

METHOD: Heat wok and add 1 tablespoon oil. With a spatula, swirl oil around
to coat sides of wok and heat until oil just begins to smoke. Add garlic
and stirfry until golden brown, about 30 seconds. Add green pepper and a
pinch of salt; stirfry for 1 minute. Add onion squares, another pinch of
salt and sprinkle 1 tablespoon water down sides of wok. Continue to
stirfry until tender crisp, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from wok and set
aside. To wok, add 3 tablespoons oil and heat until oil begins to smoke.
Add dried chile peppers and stirfry until they turn dark brown. Remove
chiles from oil and discard. Add chicken to wok, spreading it in a single
layer, and stirfry until all pink color disappears, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Return vegetables to wok and stirfry to combine. Make a well and add wine
mixture, stirfrying to combine. Remove to serving platter and garnish with
peanuts and green onion. Serve at once.

This dish may be served with rice or in Mandarin pancakes, like Mu Shu
Pork.

Serves 2 to 3 Amercian style, 4 to 6 Chinese style.

*** To stirfry almonds, cashews or peanuts, heat 1 cup peanut oIl in wok
to 375 degrees or until a cube of bread dropped in oil rises to the surface
and browns quickly. Add blanched nuts and stirfry just until light brown.
(Be sure to keep heat at an even temperature, since nuts burn easily.)
Remove nuts at once and drain on paper towel; salt nuts lightly and set
aside.

MC formatted by Brenda Adams adamsfmle@sprintmail.com and MC_Buster. MC
posted 9/19/97.

Note: This dish is spicy and pretty easy. Another name for it could be
StirFry Chicken with Chile Peppers. It's very tasty. I sometimes add some
slivers of carrots. You can reduce the amount of red peppers if you're not
into heat.

Recipe by: Mary Wilson, "Chinese Cooking" 1979

Posted to MCRecipe Digest V1 #791 by Badams adamsfmle@sprintmail.com on
Sep 19, 1997