Kung Pao Chicken
Glossy chicken, blistered dried chillies and peanuts that snap, all bound in a sauce that is sweet, sour and a little bit electric. The kind of dinner that makes the delivery app feel like a bad memory.
- Total time
- 16 min
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Easy
What you need
Written for 2 — nudge the counter and the numbers follow.
0 of 10 in the basket.
How you make it
Toss the chicken with the Shaoxing wine, cornflour and 1 tbsp of the soy sauce, and leave it to sit for 5 minutes while you prep everything else.
Mix the remaining soy sauce, black vinegar and sugar in a small bowl; stir-frying moves fast and you will not have time to measure later.
Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat, add the dried chillies and Sichuan peppercorns and fry 30 seconds until fragrant and just darkening, then scoop them out.
Crank the heat to high, spread the chicken in a single layer and leave it 90 seconds to colour, then stir-fry 4 to 5 minutes until every piece is opaque and cooked through to 75C.
Return the chillies and peppercorns, pour in the sauce and toss for 1 minute until it clings to the chicken.
Fold in the peanuts off the heat so they stay crunchy, and serve straight away.
Read all that and thought “absolutely not”?
Completely fair. Kung Pao Chicken is sitting in the Chinese kitchen right now, it costs nothing, and it will never arrive.
Order it insteadMore from the Chinese kitchen
Wok breath you can taste from the doorway.