Kung Pao Chicken

Kung Pao Chicken is a sweet and salty stir fry with a spicy Sichuan peppercorn and chilli kick. Melt in the mouth slices of chicken are cooked with chilli, garlic, ginger and peanuts, bound in a velvety, soy and Shaoxing wine Chinese sauce in an explosion of texture and flavou

Course Dinner, Lunch, Supper

Cuisine Chinese

Keyword chicken, salted peanuts, Sichuan peppercorns, stir fry

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Servings 3

Ingredients

Kung Pao sauce: (See Recipe Notes for suggested alternative ingredients, if necessary)

2 teaspoons cornflour
2½ tablespoons light soy sauce
1½ tablespoons dark soy sauce
1½ tablespoons Shaoxing Cooking wine (or you can use sherry)
1½ tablespoons Chinese black vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
40g/3 tablespoons caster sugar
90ml water

Remaining ingredients: (See Recipe Notes for suggested alternative ingredients, if necessary)

1 – 1½ tablespoons Sichuan peppercorns or 1 – 1½ teaspoons Sichuan powder
80g roast, unsalted peanuts (or use roast cashew nuts)
500g skinless and boneless chicken, breast or thigh meat
4 medium spring onions
16g/4 cloves of garlic, peeled
16g peeled fresh ginger, roughly chopped
¼ – ½ teaspoon chilli flakes
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Instructions

First make the sauce – mix the cornflour with the light soy sauce until the cornflour has dissolved and the sauce is smooth.
Add the remaining ingredients, apart from the water.
Prepare the chicken and vegetables – thinly slice the chicken and put it in a bowl.
Add 2 tablespoons of Kung Pao sauce to the chicken and mix thoroughly. Set aside to marinate whilst you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Now add the water to the remaining sauce and set aside.
Peel and roughly chop the garlic and ginger. Trim the spring onions and separate the the white bulbs from the green tops. Roughly chop the white bulbs and set the green leaves aside.
Put the garlic, ginger, chopped white onion and the chilli flakes in a small food processor and blitz until they are finely chopped.
Heat the wok over a moderately hot temperature and cook the Sichuan peppercorns for a couple of minutes, until aromatic. Shake the pan or stir a couple of times to ensure even heating.
Tip into a mini spice blender and blitz until they are in a fine powder.
Now add the peanuts (or cashews) to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes until lightly browned.
Finally slice the green parts of the onions.
Now make the stir fry: heat the vegetable oil in the wok over a moderately high temperature and add the finely chopped garlic, ginger, onion and the chilli flakes. Cook for around 1 minute until fragrant.
Tip in the chicken and cook until almost cooked through.
Add the Sichuan peppercorns, pour in the sauce and continue to cook until the the sauce is thick, coats the chicken and has thickened.
Just before serving, stir in the peanuts and ¾ of the chopped green spring onion leaves.
Delicious served with rice.

Recipe Notes

Equipment:

kitchen scales and measuring spoons
chopping board and knife
mixing jug or bowl for the sauce
mixing bowl to marinade the chicken
wok or large frying pan

If you are using peanuts with their skins on -

If your peanuts have skins, tip into a tea towel, wrap the tea towel around the nuts and rub enthusiastically so the skins come off. Set aside in a bowl.

Can you replace the chicken with fish or vegetables?

I'm very pleased to say this recipe is also delicious with pan-fried salmon or some roast cauliflower, if you are looking for a vegan version. Whilst Kung Pao Chicken is a family favourite, it was Emma who particularly loved it. As she no longer eats meat, she is very happy she can still enjoy this luscious sauce.

Some ingredients are hard to find. Can you suggest any replacements?

light soy sauce - can be replaced with all-purpose soy sauce. Do not replace with dark soy sauce, the flavour will be too strong.
dark soy sauce - can be replaced with all-purpose or light soy sauce
Shaoxing Cooking wine - can be replaced with a dry sherry, Japanese cooking sake or Japanese mirin. Mirin is very sweet, so if you are using it, reduce the sugar to 1 tablespoon.
Chinese black vinegar - this can be replaced with rice wine vinegar (use 2 tablespoons), a mild balsamic vinegar (use 1½ tablespoons) or white wine vinegar (use 1½ tablespoons). Do not use Taiwanese black vinegar, the flavour profile is very different.
toasted sesame oil - simply omit this if you cannot find it.
Sichuan peppercorns - these are very difficult to replace and nothing else also provides the numbing and tingling effect from Sichuan. However, the best alternative would be to use half black peppercorns and half coriander seeds. You could also add the grated zest of ¼ lemon to bring the citrusy note that Sichuan is famous for.
peanuts - if you are allergic to peanuts you can simply omit them. Cashew nuts are also delicious though, if you can eat those. Prepare ion the same way.