Kung pao chicken
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- Easy
- Serves 4
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- a handful cashews
- 500g skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 stick celery, sliced
- 2 red chillies, sliced, plus extra to serve
- 1 green pepper, chopped into chunks
- 1 red pepper, chopped into chunks
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- a thumb sized piece ginger, finely chopped
- 1 tsp Szechuan peppercorns, crushed
- 4 spring onions, cut into 4cm pieces
- 2 tsp cornflour
- 1 tbsp shoaxing rice wine
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- to serve rice
Method
- STEP 1
Heat the oil in a large wok over a medium heat and cook the cashews, stirring, for a few minutes until brown, then use a slotted spoon to scoop out onto a plate.
- STEP 2
Season the chicken well, turn up the heat and cook for 5-10 minutes or until well browned. Scoop out onto a plate. Cook the celery, red chillies and green and red peppers for 5 minutes or until softening and browning at the edges. Add the garlic, ginger, peppercorns and spring onions, and cook for 1 minute.
- STEP 3
Mix together the cornflour, shaoxing rice wine and soy sauce to form a paste, then gradually add 200ml of water while stirring, followed by the sugar. Tip into the pan along with the chicken and cashews, and simmer for 10 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and everything is well coated. Serve with rice and extra chilli, if you like.
