Kung Pao Chicken II (Copycat)

marisk's Note:

I'm hoping this is as good as the Kung Pao Shrimp I had at PF Chang's! There's been a lot of comments about this being salty. You might want to omit the salt and use low salt ingredients.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 1/2 lbs chicken meat, cut in bite size pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 4 tablespoons peanut oil, divided
• 1/2 cup roasted peanuts, skinless
• 10 whole dried red chili peppers
• 4 green onions, cut into 1/2-inch lengths
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup water chestnut, diced (optional)

SAUCE

• 1 teaspoon chili paste with garlic
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sherry wine
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions:

1. Combine chicken, salt, egg white, and cornstarch. Mix well by hand and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, blend all sauce ingredients. Set aside.
3. Add 2 tablespoons oil to heated wok and stir fry chicken. Cook the chicken until it's golden to golden brown on each side. Remove to serving bowl.
4. Add 2 more tablespoons oil to same wok.
5. Toss peanuts and chili peppers in the wok and stir fry until peppers turn dark red.
6. Remove from wok and add to chicken. Lower Heat. If necessary, add more oil.
7. Stir fry green onions and garlic for several seconds. (Do not let garlic burn.).
8. Return chicken, peanuts and peppers to wok and stir fry a few seconds to combine.
9. Add water chestnuts and combined sauce ingredients and stir fry till heated through and thickened (less than a minute).
10. Serve over rice.

Reviews

[brthurr]

This is a really good version of Kung Pao, PF Chang's or otherwise. Next time, I'm going to try to go a little more authentic, with celery, carrots, water chestnuts, etc. Served it with brown rice. I didn't think it was that salty, either. Try this one out!

[Chef #638470]

Great Meal!! PF Changs Kung Pao is my favorite - this did not look quite the same but was just as delicious. It was a tad salty alone but I served it over unsalted brown rice and it was perfect.

[LifeIsGood]

This was a huge hit with my family. We loved it atop rice. The flavor was excellent! There was a hint of "heat" without being too spicy for my family I didn't have a problem with the recipe being salty; I used low-sodium soy sauce and omitted the salt. This is such a simple and quick way to make Kung Pao chicken and pretty healthy, too. This recipe will be heading to my "best of the best" file. P.S. I had steamed broccoli on the side, and found that I liked mixing the broccoli into the Kung Pao. Yum!