Northeastern-style Kung Pao Chicken

When I moved to China I quickly discovered that as a foreigner I was supposed to really like kung pao chicken (宮保雞丁 / gōngbǎo jīdīng in Mandarin), which was news to me as I couldn't even remember if I'd had it before! I grew up with Cantonese food and some stereotypically Chinese-American food, but we moved enough during my childhood that I really couldn't say whether or not kung pao chicken made an appearance on my plate when we were in North America - if it did it certainly didn't stand out. Despite all this I caved to the pressure to try kung pao chicken and was a little embarrassed to realize I did really like kung pao chicken!

That being said, I can't say whether what follows fits with the standard kung pao chicken popular in North America or not. When I was looking for recipes I leaned heavily on Old Northeastern Cuisine's recipe as well as recipes from Maggie Zhu and The Woks of Life to try to recreate the beautiful flavor of the northeastern Chinese kung pao chicken I unexpectedly fell in love with in Manchuria. If you give it a try I hope it brings you as much pleasure as it has me!

Northeastern-style Kung Pao Chicken

(4 servings*)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of light soy sauce

2 teaspoons of cornstarch

2 teaspoons of water

1 teaspoon of cooking wine

1 teaspoon of bouillon powder**

Pinch of white pepper

2 large chicken breasts (cubed)

1/4 cup of water

1 1/2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar

1 tablespoon of black vinegar

1 teaspoon of roasted sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon of bouillon powder**

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

4 dried chilis (sliced****)

3/4 cup of roasted peanuts

3 green onions (sliced/divided***)

2 teaspoons of ginger paste

5 cloves of garlic (crushed/minced)

2 small cucumbers (cubed)

*When served with rice.

**I generally use chicken bouillon powder given that it's a chicken dish, but to each their own!

***Put the whites from the green onions in one small bowl for stir frying and the greens in another for the garnish.

****The ones in our local shops are generally small, so I usually use scissors to cut them into two or three pieces each.

Directions

1) Whisk together the light soy sauce, cornstarch, two teaspoons of water, cooking wine, teaspoon of bouillon powder, and white pepper, place in a container or medium ziploc bag with the cubed chicken, and set aside to marinate.

2) Next stir together the quarter cup of water, dark soy sauce, sugar, black vinegar, sesame oil, and half teaspoon of bouillon powder in a bowl to make your stir fry sauce and set it aside.

3) Place your wok or a large pan over medium high heat and add the vegetable oil. Once it is hot throw in the dried chilis, stir, and then follow with the marinated chicken, stir frying for a couple of minutes until just cooked through. (How long this takes will depend on how big or small you cut your chicken.)

4) Stir in the peanuts, whites from the green onions, ginger, and garlic and stir fry for another couple of minutes.

5) Add the stir fry sauce and cook stirring over medium heat for a minute or so to let the sauce thicken up a bit.

6) Remove the wok from the heat and stir in the cucumber.

7) Serve the kung pao chicken with rice with the green onion greens sprinkled over top, and enjoy!