Chinese Kung Pao Chicken

Submitted by JANIC412

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 19
• Serves: 3-4

ingredients

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 dash white pepper
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce

• Vegetables

• 8 medium Thai peppers (as many as you like, I use about 8)
• 1 large green pepper, cut into bite size squares (leave them out if you don't like them)
• 1 medium onion, cut into bite size pieces (if you leave out the peppers, perhaps increase the onions)
• 2 stalks celery, cut into bite size pieces on the diagonal
• 1 (8 ounce) can sliced water chestnuts, drained

• Sauce

• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 2 -3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 -3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 1⁄2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts (such as Planter's Mix)

directions

1. Cut chicken into bite size pieces.
2. Combine egg white, corn starch, pepper and soy sauce in a glass bowl.
3. Add chicken pieces mixing to coat well.
4. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.
5. Vegetables: Set aside prepared vegetables.
6. Sauce: Mix all sauce ingredients in a glass bowl and set aside. ) In a wok or large frying pan, stir fry the red peppers in the 1 Tbsp peanut oil over med.-high heat until the peppers are almost golden brown.
7. Add chicken mixture and stir-fry until the chicken is almost cooked through-add the vegetables and stir-fry a couple of minutes.
8. Add the sauce mixture and heat for a minute or so.
9. Serve over rice and sprinkle peanuts over each serving.

Reviews

[LeeAnn]

This was awesome!!! I didn''t have any dry sherry so I left it out.I also left out the thai peppers (I have small children) and sprinkled dry red pepper flakes on whom ever wanted at the table. I used onions, red pepper, mushrooms, carrot, brocolli and celery and served it over chinese noodles. YUM YUM YUM!!! I also added two cloves of garlic when stir frying my veggies.

 

[lazyme]

I was craving Chinese food but didn't want to order out. This was a wonderful dish that I truly enjoyed. Made along with recipe #38748 and some stir-fried asparagus and I was in heaven. Thanks Janic412 for a great keeper that I will make again! Made for ALL YOU CAN COOK BUFFET Special.

 

[homeless2some]

This one is the BEST! The leftovers were also great the next day. Just returned from Taiwan and have been looking for some great Chinese recipes, I tried a couple other ones that were top rated and did not leave any stars or comments. They were just bland or nothing but nasty hot. The only change I made was the Thai peppers I used ten. Thanks for posting this recipe!

 

[Bruce Benjamin]

I made this last night and it was very good. I've been using the same Kung Pao recipe for years and this was a nice change. I didn't follow the recipe exactly though. I marinated the chicken as directed but I changed the veggies. Same amount but I added zucchini and left out the celery. I used a little less green pepper and a little more onion. I didn't have any hot peppers on hand so I left them out and made up for the volume with the zucchini. Today I found some fresh water chestnuts at the store and bought those. You have to peel them and they aren't nearly as cheap as the ones in a can but they are so much better. They are sweet and juicy and to me they taste almost exactly like jicama. Sort of a cross between a potato and an apple. I'll use these some time this weekend for another Chinese dish. The veggies aren't really what a Kung Pao recipe is about anyway. It's about the sauce and the chiles. This is what attracted me to this recipe out of the many that are on this website. I doubled the amount. Otherwise I made it pretty much to spec but when I tasted it before adding to the dish it was way too strong for my tastes. I'm quite used to flavor-packed Asian dishes, especially Thai and Indian curries. But I've ordered this dish in restaurants many times and I thought the sauce was just too intense. So I thinned it a bit with some chicken stock and then added corn starch to help it thicken. I probably added 2/3 cup, give or take. It was still full of flavor and tasted about right. I also added some Thai chile garlic sauce to the sauce mix for more heat and chile flavor. This recipe usually has dried red chiles, (whole) added to the hot oil before adding the chicken and you cook until the chiles just start to brown. Leave them in for a dramatic effect but warn your guests that they aren't really good to eat. I suppose you can eat them but they're really just dry and nearly burned. I used crushed red peppers,(out of whole dried peppers too) several cloves of garlic and 1 or 2 tablespoons of minced ginger to the oil before cooking the chicken. Adding ginger and garlic to the hot oil is pretty common with Chinese stir fried dishes and really adds great flavor to the meat. As I said, Kung Pao is mostly about the sauce and the chiles. I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 because I really think it needs to be diluted a bit to make it more authentic. Chicken stock is perfect for this but you'll want to add a little corn starch, maybe a couple of tablespoons, so that it will thicken when you cook it. Good stuff and I'll be making it again for sure. Thanks for posting the recipe. Bruce

 

[SEvans]

HOLY COW - what a great dish. This was soo flavourful and filling. Awesome dish on its own or as a side... Great Recipe