Several years back I had a Chinese roommate who taught me how to make Kung Pao Chicken, a dish that I’d never had before. I didn’t know this dish is one of North America’s favourite take out dishes, or as my current Chinese co-worker informed me “the whitest Chinese dish around”. Chinese take-out in Holland, where I’m from, generally takes a strange Chinese-Indonesian hybrid form resulting in lots of fried rice, egg rolls and saté. My roommate from Chengdu taught me how to make this delicious dish, and it stuck with me over the years, written down in one of my little recipe booklets, and by now I take pride in my friends asking me, when I serve it to them, which restaurant I got this from.

Ingredients

• 400 g chicken (breast or thigh meat, cubed)

• 1 cup peanuts

• 4 cm slice of fresh ginger, grated

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 4 spring onion, sliced

• 2 dried chili

• 1 red bell pepper, cubed

Marinade Ingredients

• 2 tbs cornstarch

• 4 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 tbs vegetable oil

Sauce Ingredients

• 4 tbs soy sauce

• 4 tbs sugar

• 3 tbs rice vinegar

• 2 tsp cornstarch

Method

1. Combine the ingredients for the marinade and the sauce in two separate bowls.

2. Put the chicken in with the marinade and make sure everything is well coated. Add a bit of water if need be.

3. Meanwhile slice the vegetables and have them ready to go. Once you start stir frying this dish will move fast.

4. Heat your wok or large nonstick pan on high heat. Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil once the pan is hot and add the chicken. Make sure you add all the marinade, too. You will need it to thicken your sauce.

5. Once your chicken has browned on all sides, add ginger, garlic, dried chilli pepper, and the white parts of the spring onion. Stir and cook for about 1 minute.

6. Finish by adding the red pepper and sauce, cook for another two minutes or until the sauce has reached the desired consistency.

7. Stir in the peanuts and serve immediately. Garnish with the rest of the spring onion and serve with rice.