Kung Pao Chicken

Overview

Legend has it that there was a man named Ding Baozhen, originally from Guizhou. He was a Jinshi during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty. He served as governor of Shandong and later as governor of Sichuan. He has always liked to eat dishes stir-fried with chili peppers, pork, and chicken. It is said that when he was working in Shandong, he ordered his chef to make dishes such as stir-fried chicken with sauce, which was very appetizing, but at that time this dish was not famous yet. After he was transferred to the governor of Sichuan, whenever he had a banquet, he would ask his chef to fry diced chicken with peanuts, dried chili peppers and tender chicken. The meat was tender and delicious, and was very popular with the guests. Later, he was named Prince Shaobao by the imperial court for his meritorious service in guarding the border and fending off enemies. He was also known as Ding Gongbao. The stir-fried diced chicken cooked by his kitchen was also called Gongbao Chicken.

Tags

• hot dishes
• home cooking
• sichuan cuisine
• balsamic vinegar
• chicken essence
• chicken breast
• cooking wine
• corn starch
• dried red chili pepper
• edible oil
• egg white
• garlic
• light soy sauce
• onions
• peanuts
• pixian doubanjiang
• sugar
• zanthoxylum bungeanum
• ginger
• salt

Ingredients

Steps

1. 1 Prepare the ingredients

   

2. 2 Soak peanuts in boiling water for 10 minutes to make them easier to peel

   

3. 3 Chop the green onions, shred the ginger, mince the garlic, cut the dry red pepper into sections and remove the seeds, chop the bean paste in the bean paste, pat the chicken breast with the back of a knife and cut into cubes

   

4. 4 For diced chicken, use 1 teaspoon of cooking wine, chopped green onion, shredded ginger, 1 egg white, 1 teaspoon of starch, mix well, and marinate for about 15 minutes (add 1 teaspoon of oil to the marinated diced chicken, so that the chicken can be quickly split when frying)

   

5. 5 Peanuts can be easily peeled by rubbing them with your hands and set aside

   

6. 6 Heat a small amount of oil in the pot, add peanuts, stir-fry constantly, when you hear the popping sound and see the peanuts turn yellow, it means they are cooked

   

7. 7 Remove the fried peanuts and set aside

   

8. 8 In a small bowl, add 2 tsp light soy sauce, 3 tsp sugar, 1 tsp Pixian bean paste, 3 tsp vinegar, 1 tsp starch, mix well and set aside

   

9. 9 Heat the oil in the pot, pour in the marinated chicken, quickly cut it open with a spatula, stir-fry until it changes color and serve up

   

10. 10 Clean the pot, pour oil, heat and saute Sichuan peppercorns until fragrant

    

11. 11 Sautéed dried chili segments

    

12. 12 Then add the onion, ginger and garlic and stir-fry

    

13. 13 Add chicken pieces and stir-fry evenly

    

14. 14 Finally, add peanuts, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp chicken essence, stir-fry, reduce the juice over high heat, and then

    

15. 15 Finished product pictures

    

16. 16 Finished product pictures

    

17. 17 Finished product pictures