Kung Pao Chicken

I had Kung Pao chicken for the first time at Panda Express and it became one of my favourites ever since. Well marinated chicken deep fried, sauteed with spicy red chillies, onions,bell peppers,ginger-garlic, green onions(you may add your own choice of vegetables) in a tangy, spicy, creamy, delectable dark brown sauce! Doesn't this sound great? Oh the very thought of it makes me drool.

My love for Kung pao led me to research more into it and came upon this info in Wikipedia which I would like to share here. Kung pao is a classic dish of Schezwan cuisine, that originated in Sichuan province of central-western China. The name Kung Pao was derived from the title Gong Bao, which was the title of Ding Baozhen, the late governor of Sichuan province. The dish was named after him.

In the original Sichuan version diced chicken is marinated and stir fried with chillies, Sichuan peppercorns, vegetables and roasted peanuts. Shaoxing wine was used for an extra flavour in the marinade. The most important component was the Sichuan peppercorns that imparted the unique authentic flavour to the dish.

However in Westernized versions which most of us have tried out, marinated chicken is mixed with corn starch, deep fried and then later stir fried with ginger garlic, vegetables, roasted peanuts in a sauce prepared with rice vinegar, oyster sauce, chili peppers etc. Compared to the Sichuan version this doesn't use Sichuan peppercorns as it was illegal to import these peppercorns into US. Though the ban is now lifted, this resulted in Westernized version of the dish.

Every time I have Kung Pao chicken from the restaurant I try to figure out the ingredients that went into the preparation but couldn't completely figure it out until I accidentally came upon Vahreh Vah's Kung Pao Chicken. I have made changes to the chef's recipe and created my version. Instead of deep frying the marinated chicken I opted for stir fry as it would make it a lot more healthier. Also I added teriyaki sauce while stir frying chicken to add more flavour and to give more glaze.And even though I couldn't exactly create a clone of Panda Express Kung Pao I was very well satisfied with the final outcome. This goes well with fried rice/steamed rice. Now for the moment lets enjoy this spicy Kung Pao!

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken diced - 1.25 lb

3/4 white onion chopped to squares

Green bell pepper - 1 chopped

Celery stalk - 1 chopped

Green onions - 4 chopped

Snow peas - 15 chopped

Mushrooms - 5 oz(140 g) sliced

Dry red chillies - 4 broken

Fresh ginger minced - 1 tbsp

Fresh garlic minced - 3 cloves

Ground pepper to taste

Salt to taste

A pinch of MSG( I used 1/2 packet fried rice seasoning mix)

Roasted peanuts - A handful or more

Cornstarch(cornflour) - 2 tsp dissolved in enough water

Sesame oil for cooking

For marinating chicken:

Soy sauce - 1.5 tbsp

Egg - 1 beaten

Salt to taste

Ground pepper to taste

Cornstarch(cornflour) - 2 tbsp(approx)

For preparing the sauce:

Chicken broth - 1 3/4 cup

Soy sauce - 3 tbsp(approx)

Rice Vinegar - 2 tbsp

Oyster sauce - 1 tbsp

Chilly sauce - 1/2 tbsp(adjust according to your taste buds)

Pinch of sugar

For stir frying chicken:

Teriyaki sauce(gives the required glaze)

Sesame oil

Method:

• Marinate the chicken with ingredients mentioned under marinade. Keep aside for 30 minutes.
  
• Heat a large pan over high heat, add 1 tsp sesame oil and stir fry the marinated chicken until it turns golden brown. During this process add teriyaki sauce over the chicken pieces and continue sauteeing.
  
• Reduce heat to medium-high and continue the process till chicken is cooked well. You may go for deep frying instead of stir fry method.
  
• When the chicken is fully cooked remove from pan and keep aside.
  
• For preparing the sauce add soy sauce to broth till the colour turns dark brown. Now add the rest of the ingredients mentioned above for sauce preparation. Keep aside.
  
• Heat the same pan used for cooking chicken, add sesame oil and stir fry broken red chillies till they turn dark brown.
  
• Add minced ginger and garlic and saute till raw smell goes.
  
• Add chopped onions along with snow peas and cook till onions turn transparent.
  
• Add mushrooms, bell pepper, celery, half of chopped green onions and stir fry till mushrooms are cooked and water is absorbed.
  
• Add enough salt and pepper to taste, seasoning mix(or MSG) and mix well.
  
• Add the prepared sauce and bring to a boil.
  
• Add stir fried chicken, reduce the heat and cook for few minutes more.
  
• Add roasted peanuts and mix well.
  
• Add about 1.5 tsp cornflour solution slowly till the sauce attains the required thickness. Do not add too much. It would spoil the entire dish. If the gravy isn't thick enough you may add more.
  
• Remove from heat and garnish with the remaining chopped green onions.
  
• Serve hot with fried rice/steamed rice.
  
• Enjoy every bite of crunchy, tangy, spicy Kung pao!
  

This goes to:

AFAM Bell Peppers hosted by Priya & started by Maheswari.

The Potluck-Chicken event hosted by Vicky.

BSI-Blogger Secret Ingredient hosted by Jenn of Bread+Butter.

Pooja.

Other Chinese Dishes:

Mushroom Fried Rice ~ And my 50th post!!

My 50th post!! On this small achievement I would like to thank all my friends and fellow bloggers who have supported and encouraged me with their lovely words without which I wouldnt have succeeded in my attempts. Thanks a lot friends :)

Chinese forms one of my favourite cuisines apart from Indian. But the Chinese food served outside China differs from what it is served within the country. The food served outside China varies according to the taste of the people in various countries. I love the Indo-Chinese version. Chinese dishes can be made in a jiffy and doesn't require much time and effort.

The technique behind making a good Fried Rice is in using cooked left over cold rice as the rice grains would be fluffy and wouldn't stick to each other as would be the case when using freshly cooked rice. So prior planning is needed. But what if you haven't planned earlier and don't have cold left over rice but still want to make fried rice, as has happened with me on numerous occasions? Follow this simple and easy technique of rice preparation and you will end with fluffy and tasty fried rice.

Ingredients:

For rice preparation:

1 cup long grained rice/Basmati uncooked

2 cups chicken stock(I used Swanson)

Salt to taste

For the rest of the preparation:

Portabella mushrooms(or any other)- 10 oz (283 g) sliced

Snow peas - 10 chopped

1/2 white onion chopped

Celery stalks - 2 chopped

Green onions - 5 chopped

Green bell pepper(Capsicum)- 1/2

Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Vinegar - 1.5 tsp

Soy sauce - 3 tbsp(adjust according to your taste)

Fried rice seasoning mix - 1/2 packet

Oil for cooking(Peanut oil or Sesame oil or Olive oil)

Method:

• In a saucepan add salt to chicken broth and bring to a boil.
  
• Add rice, reduce heat to low and cook till water has been absorbed and rice is cooked well.
  
• Remove from pan and spread the rice grains on a large plate/tray and allow to cool at room temperature.
  
• Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and saute onions and mushrooms till the water oozed out from mushrooms has evaporated and onions have turned transparent/mushrooms are cooked.
  
• Add bell pepper and snow peas, celery and saute for a minute or so.
  
• Add three fourth of chopped green onions and saute for few seconds.
  
• Add vinegar, salt and pepper and mix well.
  
• Add cooked cooled rice and mix thoroughly.
  
• Add soy sauce and fried rice seasoning mix and mix well. You may add ketchup too if you wish.
  
• Remove from pan and garnish with the remaining chopped green onions.
  
• Serve hot!
  

This goes to Monthly Mingle-Ravishing Rice Recipes event hosted by Nags and started by Meeta.

Along with this I'm also sending the following from my archives to the same event:

Malabar Mutton Biriyani.

Dill Rice:

Ammu of Nature Kitchen has passed me the 'I love Your Blog Award'. Thanks a lot Ammu. You made the day special :)

On this small achievement of mine, I would like to give away this award- 'Chirpy and Cheerful Blog' award to the following fellow bloggers whose blogs(and they themselves are too) are always chirpy and cheerful(like a parrot) and makes one surround with an aura of happiness!

Aruna of The Temptations

Varsha of Will-O'-the-Wisp

Ramya of Passion for Cooking-Memory Archieved

Smitha of Saffron Apron

I would also love to give away this award- Awesome Shots to the following fellow bloggers. Photography is a skill which only few people are blessed with. And so is presentation skill. Both go hand in hand for eye catching shots. Hats off to you all!! You have really impressed me with your awesome clicks!!

Prathibha of The Chef and Her Kitchen

Mahimaa of Indian Vegetarian Kitchen

Pavithra of Dishes From My Kitchen

Vrinda & Mahesh of Sankeerthanam

Deesha of Vegetable Platter

Lena of Lemon n Spice

Pooja.

Other Chinese Dishes:

Chilly Chicken

As I said earlier in my previous post Chinese food served in China differs from what is served outside the country as it depends on the local ingredients available and the needs of the customers. The recipe that I have described here is an Indo-Chinese version in which the use of green/red chillies gives the required spiciness. This used to be one of my mom's speciality dishes and a fight ensues between my brother and I as to who gets the largest serving!

The common method of preparation is adding eggs and cornflour to marinated chicken pieces which are then deep fried in oil and later added to the prepared sauce/gravy. Since I didn't want to go for deep fry I stir fried the marinated chicken. Hence I haven't used eggs and cornflour for the marinade but you may prepare it as you wish.Also in traditional Chinese preparations peanut oil is used for cooking but since its expensive for daily use the oil used differs. The use of different sauces to prepare the gravy does impart colour to it but if you need to make the dish more appetizing (especially on occasions where you are throwing a party or having guests in your home) you might need to add food colour. This dish goes well with stir fried rice.

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into cubes

1 onion chopped

1 green bell pepper chopped

5 spring onions/green onions chopped

1 stalk of celery chopped

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp minced ginger

1 1/2 cups chicken broth(you may use chicken cubes if you don't have broth)

2 tsp cornflour dissolved in water

Salt to taste

MSG/Aginomoto

A drop of red food colour

Oil for cooking

Adjust the following according to your taste:

4 green chillies split/3 dry red chillies halved

2 tsp vinegar

1 tsp ground pepper

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp chilly garlic sauce

For chicken marinade:

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

Salt to taste

1 tsp ground pepper

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp ketchup

2 tsp vinegar

A drop of red food colour

Method:

• Marinate chicken pieces with the ingredients for marinade. Keep aside for an hour.
• In a large pan stir fry the marinated chicken pieces till cooked. You may use any method for cooking chicken. While stir frying drain the juices coming out from chicken and keep aside. Remove the cooked chicken pieces from pan.
• In the same pan used for cooking chicken heat about 1 tbsp oil at medium heat. When oil is hot add minced garlic and ginger. Saute till the raw smell goes and till you get the aroma of spices. Add chilly and saute for few seconds.
• Add chopped onions and saute till onions turn transparent.
• Add chopped green pepper, celery and half of chopped spring onions .Saute for a minute.
• Now add ground pepper, soy sauce, chilly garlic sauce, vinegar, salt, food colour and MSG. Mix well.
• Add chicken broth, stir well and bring to a boil. If you need more gravy you may add more chicken broth or water.
• When the gravy has started boiling add the cooked chicken pieces and reduce heat. Saute for few minutes.
• To thicken the gravy add about 1 tsp of cornflour at a time stirring well until the gravy attains the desired thickness. Care should be taken during addition of cornflour because too much of it would make the gravy very thick and reduce the taste.
• Remove from heat and garnish with the remaining chopped spring onions.
• Enjoy with stir fried rice.

Pooja.

Other Chinese Dishes:

Stir Fried Rice

Fried rice forms an important part of Chinese cuisine. The Chinese food served outside China differs from the way its cooked in the country.

The secret in making good stir fried rice is in using cold rice as the grains would be separated and wouldn't stick to each other as in the case if fresh rice is used. This is a great way to use your left over rice! This particular dish is healthy too. There are many ways to prepare fried rice.Rice can be stir fried with green onions, eggs, bell peppers or any other vegetables of your choice. You also can add your choice of meat. In some preparations spices like garlic are stir fried to impart a special flavour. Similarly MSG/Aginomoto is also used as a flavour enhancer.

In this recipe I have stir fried- rice with green onions, chicken, eggs and frozen vegetables. Also in this preparation I used teriyaki sauce.Teriyaki sauce is used usually in Japanese dishes but this was purely a personal choice. The addition of this sauce gives a glaze for meat and vegetables. The technique behind stir frying rice with eggs is you need to add rice to eggs when eggs are about one fourth cooked so that finally when it gets cooked the eggs stick to the rice granules which enhances the flavour. Also before serving garnish the dish with freshly chopped green onions.

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into cubes

1 cup cold cooked rice-cooked in chicken broth

4 green onions chopped

3 eggs-season with salt and pepper

1 cup cooked frozen vegetables

Fried rice seasoning mix/Msg or any other flavour enhancer of your choice

Add following according to your taste:

3/4 tsp pepper powder

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp teriyaki sauce

1 tsp ketchup

For chicken marinade:

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

Salt to taste

1 tsp ground pepper

1 tsp vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp teriyaki sauce

Method:

• The rice should be cooked in chicken broth with enough salt added.
• Marinate chicken pieces with ingredients mentioned under marinade and keep for about 30 minutes.
• Stir fry the marinated chicken in a pan till cooked. You may use any method for cooking chicken. Remove from pan and keep aside.
• Beat the eggs seasoned with salt and pepper. In the same pan that was used for cooking chicken add beaten eggs and cook.
• When eggs are about one fourth cooked add cold rice and stir fry till eggs are cooked well.
• Now add chicken pieces, half of chopped green onions, ground pepper, frozen vegetables and mix well in low-medium heat.
• Add soy sauce, ketchup, teriyaki sauce and mix well.
• Add the seasoning mix(vary the amount according to your taste) and stir well.
• Remove from heat and garnish with the remaining chopped green onions(preferably the green part of the onions)
• Close with a lid and keep for some time before serving.

Pooja.

Other Chinese Dishes: