KUNG P@0 CHICkEN

hey frnds,

m back after a long time. was superbly busy with my final graduation collection. it was loads of work. and now m enjoying kind of a holiday. parents not at home, friends dropping by, loads of party  food. but trust me , m superbly tired. so cooking up sumthing elaborate is kind of out of question. 
and what's bugging me more is the heat. so standing and cooking in the kitchen for long is gonna kill me. i loved the fresh produce of this summer season. a friend was staying back yesterday at my place, and so had to cook for him. he is not a big fan of spicy food like me. so i had to do a kind of a chinese dish(since its easy & most of the time is not spicy). i made KUNG-PAO chicken.
i had had this dish years back at some resturant outside Bengal. & i still remember the delicious recipe. so here's my version of this awesum recipe which is kind of synonimous with chinese cuisine. here goes the original recipe & where all i have made changes.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon of Szechwan peppercorns (optional)
• 8 red, dried chili peppers
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger
• 6 green onions, chopped
• 2/3 cup of roasted, unsalted peanuts

For the marinade

• 2 teaspoons of soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of sherry or Shaoxing rice wine
• 1 tablespoon of water
• 2 teaspoons of cornstarch

For the sauce

• 3 teaspoons of Chinkiang or 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons of soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon of water
• 3 teaspoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of cornstarch

METHOD

1 Mix together the marinade ingredients. Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces and toss them in the marinade and set aside.

2 Combine all the ingredients for the sauce, whisking well to ensure the cornstarch is fully incorporated. Set aside.

3 Thinly slice the garlic. Break the chilies open and discard the seeds inside, then cut them into a few large pieces (the dish will already be very hot, keeping the seeds will make it near inedible).

4 Place the 2 1/2 tablespoons of sesame oil in a wok or large saute pan and place over medium-high heat. Add the chilies and Szechwan peppercorns if using. Stir-fry for a few second until they become fragrant being careful not to burn them. Add the chicken, as soon as the pieces have separated add the ginger, garlic, and green onions. Stir-fry for a few minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

5 Add the sauce and toss. When the sauce becomes thick add the peanuts, toss, and serve.

Serves 4.

the first change was that i had used white wine for the entire thing, wherever wine was required. for people who have a bit more sweet tooth, they can use up Port Wine, its sweet in taste, and is good for sipping even. since i was not using much of the chilli , so had to substitute with chilli oil, as it gives the flavour, yet the dish is not very spicy. szechuan peppercons is  something i dnt have, so had to use noemal black pepper, and along with two green chillies, i had also used two dried red chillies. the quanntity of garlic was a bit more. and i have used both light & dark soya, for taste & colour. i had used a normal red onion sliced in chunks instead of the green onions, for the simple reason, it wasn't there at my home. 

as i have always said, make a recipe your own. u can try this out and see how it works for your loved ones. do let me know.

till then njoy & chowwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!