Sichuan Gong Bao Chicken Recipe
This Sichuan dish is also known as Kung Pao chicken, it was named after a nineteenth-century governor-general of Sichuan, Ding Baozhen, who is said to have been utterly obsessed with eating it.
There are many stories claiming where it originated but whatever the truth of its origins, Gong Bao is association with an imperial bureaucrat and was enough to provoke the wrath of the Cultural Revolution radicals, and it was renamed "fast-fried chicken cubes" (hongbao jiding) or "chicken cubes with seared chiles" (hula jiding) until its political rehabilitation in the 1980s.
Gong Bao chicken is a glorious medley of succulent chicken, golden peanuts and dark red chiles. The sweet sauce is spiced up with a scorched-chile spiciness and the
numbing effect of Sichuan pepper that will make your lips tingly and pleasant. Although the classic dish is made with peanuts, cashew nuts are even more delicious.
Sichuan Gong Bao Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
(300g) boneless chicken breast or thigh
4 scallions
A good handful of dried chiles (at least 12) - Er Jing Tiao or Lantern Chile
3 tbsp neutral cooking oil
1 tsp Whole Sichuan Tribute or Green Sichuan Pepper
3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
2 Inch knob of Ginger, minced
(75g) roasted or fried peanuts (or cashews)
For the marinade
½ tsp salt
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Shaoxing wine
1½ tbsp potato starch
For the sauce
2 tbsp superfine sugar or Okinawa Black Sugar (healthier and deeper flavour)
¾ tsp potato starch
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
2 tbsp chicken stock or water
1 tsp sesame oil
Cooking Directions
Cut the chicken as evenly as possible into ½-inch (1.5cm) cubes. Place in a bowl for marinade. Add the marinade ingredients and 1½ tbsp cold water, and mix well. Cut the scallions into small chunks to match the chicken cubes. Cut the chiles with scissors or into -inch (2cm) sections and shake out the seeds, unless you want spicy, then keep the seeds.
Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.
Pour the cooking oil into a wok over high heat, Quickly add the chiles and Sichuan pepper and stir-fry briefly until the chiles are fragrant and darkening but not burned about 30 seconds. Put in the chicken pieces and stir to separate. As soon as the pieces have separated, add the garlic, ginger and scallion and stir-fry until they smell delicious and the chicken is just cooked.
Give the sauce a stir and pour into the centre of the wok. Wait for a second or two, then stir as the sauce thickens and coats the chicken pieces. Mix in the peanuts (or cashews).
Sichuan Spices!
