Sunday, March 25, 2012

Gong Pao Chicken

Gong Pao chicken is a very popular dish here in the American-Chinese restaurants. It is marinated diced chicken cooked with dried chili, Szechuan peppercorn, peppers, celery, and carrot along with peanuts or cashew nuts. This is an easy recipe and you can replace the vegetables with any type of vegetables of your choice and the level of spiciness can be adjusted to your taste.




Ingredients:

500 gram boneless chicken thigh – removes skin and fats and cut into cubes
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced red pepper
1/2 cup diced carrot
6 Dried red chili peppers (less if you want it less spicy), cut and rinsed
1 tsp Szechuan peppercorns, rinsed
2 cloves Garlic, minced
4 slices ginger
3 Spring onions – cut into 1” length
1/2 cup unroasted peanuts

For the marinade for the chicken:

1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp Light soy sauce
3/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cornstarch
1/4 tsp Sesame oil



For the sauce:

1 tbsp Light soy sauce
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp Dark soy sauce
1 tbsp Sugar
2 tsp Black vinegar (can be replace with balsamic vinegar)
5 tbsp Water or chicken stock
A dash of Sesame oil


1. Firstly, mix together the ingredients for the marinade and add in the chicken. Mix well and set it aside for at least 30 minutes. Mix the all the sauce ingredients and set it aside.
2. Heat about 2 tbsp of cooking oil in a wok. Once it is hot, add in the dried chili, Szechuan peppercorn, garlic and ginger. Stir fry it until lightly brown and fragrant. Add in the chicken; spread it on the wok. Do not stir it until it turns lightly brown. Flip them over and let it lightly brown on the other side. This will take about 3 minutes.
3. Add in the celery, pepper and carrot. Continue to stir fry for two minute and then add in the sauce. Continue to stir fry until the sauce coated the chicken and thickens.
4. Check seasonings and see if it needs a bit more salt. Lastly add in the spring onions and peanuts. Toss it lightly and dish out.
5. Serve with warm rice.

10 comments:

ijayuji said...

Hi gert! kung pao n gong pao lain ya? ehehe... both recipe belum try, tp tgk gong pao chicken ni i try :D thanks for sharing!

My Asian Kitchen said...

I was just thinking to cook cashew chicken wt KP sauce from LKK today!! now I see your KP chicken!! yummy!! must make this tmorrow!!

Shereen said...

I've cooked this kung chicken before but I noticed your recipe is slightly different.I would give yours a try soonish:)

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

Ya,This is one of the Chinese dish that Quey Lo know, hehehe. Anyway, this is easy to cook but yet resulted great taste, no wonder all peoples love it.

Elin said...

It has been a while since I cooked this , yours looks delish and now I am hungry looking at it. Normally , I will go for the nuts first :p

QembarDelites said...

It's usually topped with cashew nuts here and everyone will aim for that! Looks delicious!

My Little Space said...

Hmm..how I wish I can have this for tonight dinner. haha...
Enjoy your day, Gert.
Kristy

lena said...

actually like anything kung pou , like that it taste a lil spicy and love the kacang! yeah, quite famous among the angmohs, also lemon chicken and sweet and sour pork.

ICook4Fun said...

Ijayuji, they are the same. Spelling saja yang lain :)

Lesley, I never try the ready LKK KP sauce. Are they good?

Shereen, yes pretty similar :)

Sonia, yea over this dish is very popular beside General Tao chicken.

Elin, thank you. Me too :)

Jeannie, I like cashew nuts too but Carlos is not a fan of it so I just add peanuts.

Kristy, thank you.

Lena, me too. Sometimes I will gong Pao shrimps or sotong. Yea the angmohs here like general tao chicken too :)

suituapui said...

I've had kung pao chicken at restaurants...but not really a fan. At best, something different for a change. Think there are a lot of nicer ways to cook chicken...but I guess it's the favourite of many.