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–+ servings

Real Deal Kung Pao Chicken Recipe

The Kung Pao chicken recipe below is suitable for two adults to eat.
It's so simple. There's just 5 small bowls you need to prepare with ingredients to add to your wok. With every Chinese recipe, you always want to prepare all your ingredients first and make sure to have them at your hand beside your wok within arms reach.Note that the exact amounts are just by feel each time.
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Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 7 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese
Servings 1 2

Ingredients
  

Marinated Chicken Breast Bowl

  • 1 whole chicken breast 250-300g
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp MSG
  • 1/3 tsp Chinese white pepper powder
  • 1 tsp Laochou Chinese dark soy sauce for colour, judge it by eye
  • 2 tsp Liaojiu Chinese cooking wine (shaoxing wine)
  • 2.5 tbsp cold water
  • 2.5 tsp pea starch or potato starch
  • 3 tbsp soybean oil

Sauce bowl

  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/3 tsp MSG
  • 4 tsp sugar
  • 1/3 tsp Chinese white pepper powder
  • 6 tsp Xiangcu Chinese black vinegar
  • 2 tsp Chinese soy sauce (shengchou)
  • 1/2 tsp pea starch or potato starch

Sichuan Chili and Sichuan Peppercorn Bowl

  • 10-20 whole dried red Sichuan chili chopped into 1/3rds, seeds removed
  • 1 tbsp dried red Sichuan peppercorns

Chinese Leek and Garlic Bowl

  • 1 whole Chinese leek chopped bite size cylinders
  • 6 whole cloves garlic chopped into half or thirds

Peanut bowl

  • 50-80 grams raw peanuts

Instructions
 

Marinate the chicken

  • Take your chicken breast and first slice it into strips, and then into cubes, fairly small bite sized pieces. Place into a bowl.
    Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp MSG, 1/3 tsp Chinese white pepper powder, a touch of laochou Chinese dark soy sauce for colour, and 1 capful of liaojiu Chinese cooking wine.
    Mix this up by hand until it's all mixed through, then add a touch of cold water and mix it through until the water is no longer showing on the bottom of the bowl, so the chicken absorbs all the water. The chicken should feel fairly juicy but not very wet. This step is important in the velveting technique so it stays juicy when you fry it. So make sure that the chicken absorbs all the water. Or, you could do like Aunt Yang, and add an egg white instead.
    After Mixing the water in, add 2.5 teaspoons of pea starch or potato starch, and mix by hand again until it's all mixed in.
    Add soybean oil until it goes about halfway up the chicken.
    Marinate for about 10 minutes.

Create your Kung Pao sauce

  • Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/3 tsp MSG, 4 tsp sugar, and 1/3 tsp Chinese white pepper powder into a bowl.
    Pour Chinese black vinegar into it until it just barely saturates all your ingredients and then add just a little more. This will make the chicken slightly more sour than sweet. That's the way all the chefs make it in Chengdu.
    Add a touch of regular Chinese soy sauce.
    Then add 1/2 pea starch or potato starch to thicken the sauce a little bit.

Fry the peanuts

  • Make sure your wok is dry and then start it up on low heat and add enough soybean oil or vegetable oil so that the peanuts will b covered. Make sure to add the raw peanuts before the oil warms up, and fry them gently. Keep frying at low temp.
    Some small bubbles will start to form. Then, the skins of the peanuts will start to peel away and the peanuts will turn a little yellow and golden.
    This will only take a few minutes. Once they are slightly golden, remove the peanuts by pouring them out into a strainer and your main oil bowl below to catch the oil.
    Be careful during this step as it's easy to overcook them. Just do it again if you burn them, no problem, it takes time.

Fry the chicken 50%

  • Put your wok on max heat and pour a big ladle of soybean oil or vegetable oil into the pan. Make sure your pan is dry before doing so or the oil will splatter.
    Wait until the oil begins to smoke and then pour it out back into your oil bowl.
    Turn the heat OFF. Your wok will still be very hot, so add in two large ladles of oil. Add the marinated chicken and mix it around so that it doesn't stick to the wok and gently fry for about 30-40 seconds.
    This will result in half cooked chicken. Strain your chicken by pouring it into a strainer above your oil bow.
    This is an important step to keeping your chicken juicy. You will add it in back at the end to finish cooking it.

Final Stir-Fry

  • Get ready to fry up your kung pao chicken!
    Put the temperature to medium heat and add a little oil, about half a ladle. Then add the garlic and chinese leeks and stir fry until aromatic and slightly sizzled.
    Then add your Sichuan dried red chilies and Sichuan peppercorns in and fry until fragrant. You can fry it until the red chilies get a little sizzled and even a little yellow. Keep the heat at medium throughout.
    Next, add the half cooked chicken back into the wok and fry until completely cooked, usually just another 10-20 seconds.
    Get ready to put your sauce in. Mix the sauce first thoroughly because the sugar sometimes sticks to the bottom of the bowl. Then pour your sauce in. And you can even scoop a little chicken from the wok into the sauce bowl back and forth to make sure it's all removed.
    Put the heat up to max heat now!
    Keep frying on max heat for around 10 seconds. Then to finish, add the fried peanuts, quickly toss, and serve.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!