Kung Pao Chicken

I have always been intimidated by cooking Asian cuisine. I think it's hard for me because I like to cook my food low and slow while most Asian cooking is hot and fast. My friend Kyle recently had us over for dinner and she made Szechuan chicken. It was so good it made me want to try cooking Chinese food. I found several recipes for Kung Pao chicken on the Internet. I got the general recipe down and adapted it to work with the ingredients I had on hand. I was worried to use seasoned rice vinegar when most of the recipes called for rice wine vinegar but there was no need to worry because the sauce was extremely tasty. It was spicy and full of flavor while the chicken was tender and juicy. My husband and I really enjoyed this meal. Since the dish was really spicy, I took some of the chicken and cooked it with teriyaki sauce for the kids - they really liked it. I served the Kung Pao chicken over white rice and with steamed broccoli on the side. It was a fantastic meal that was quick and simple to cook. I am so excited to trying cooking another Asian recipe soon.


Kung Pao Chicken:

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast, diced into bite sized chunks
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1-2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (less if you don't want it really spicy)
• 3 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1-2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup roasted peanuts
• White rice, prepared per instructions

Prepare rice. Combine chicken and cornstarch in a bowl and toss until evenly coated. Combine the vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in another bowl and set aside for later. Heat a large skillet or wok with sesame oil over medium high heat. Once the pan is smoking hot add the chicken and stir fry for 5-6 minutes or until no longer pink inside. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Add the garlic, ginger, red pepper and green onions (leaving a few for garnishing) to the pan and stir fry for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add the soy sauce, vinegar and sugar mixture to the pan along with the cooked chicken and peanuts. Coat the chicken and peanuts with sauce and heat thoroughly. Serve over rice and top with remaining green onions. Enjoy.

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