KUNG PAO CHICKEN

This is my retake on Kung Pao Chicken because the first I made it I was not much experienced and I ended up adding cashew nuts because Mom loved them. Then I got lectured by someone about how cashew nuts are not Kung Pao which made me so furious that I met a Chinese living in Lahore to confirm.

FYI - KUNG PAO CHICKEN CAN BE MADE WITH ALMONDS, CASHEW NUTS AND BASICALLY ANY TYPE OF NUT. This is a Schezuan cuisine and the type of nuts does not have to do anything with the authenticity.

In Pakistan we don't know any other Pao than "beta zara ghr atay hovey aik pao dahi le ana." Kung Pao Chicken is literally one of my all time favorites.

INGREDIENTS FOR CHICKEN:

500 grams boneless, skinless chicken breast cut in 1/2 inch cubes

1 tablespoon red chili paste

pinch of salt and pepper

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 teaspoons baking powder (it tenderizes the chicken)

INGREDIENTS FOR SAUCE:

1 tablespoon of finely chopped ginger

6 garlic cloves finely chopped

10 dried red chilies cut in 1/2 inch pieces (you can skip or lessen them to adjust spice)

4 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon oyster sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons white vinegar

3/4 cup of chicken stock

1 tablespoon cornflour

4-5 green onions chopped

1/4 cup of salted peanuts (you can also add more or less)

Really easy and simple to make.

First we marinate the chicken by adding salt, pepper, soy sauce, oyster sauce and baking powder to it.

Mix it and keep it aside.

Now we let the chicken marinade and we slice green onions and dried red chilies.

Now let's prepare the sauce by putting soy sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar, chicken stock and cornflour.

Mix it well and keep it aside.

Now we heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok on high heat and fry the chicken.

After the chicken is cooked take it out separately.

Now we heat a another tablespoon of oil in the same wok and stir fry garlic, ginger and dry red chilies for 1 minute.

Give the sauce a stir in a bowl and add it to the wok. Turn up the heat to medium.

As soon as the sauce starts boiling stir the dry ingredients and mix them together.

Now we add chicken and stir it in the sauce for a minute.

Time to add the peanuts and give them a good stir for 30 seconds.

Quickly add the green onions and stir for another minute and TADA. Kung Pao Chicken is ready to serve.

KUNG PAO CHICKEN

EVERYONE !!!

General Tso's Chicken

General Raheel Sharif our very own Chief of Army Staff. Amazing man, loved by many people. He's loved so much that people even thank him if something randomly goes right in their lives.

Still we don't love him as much as the Chinese loved their General Tso Tsung-t'ang that they named a recipe after him called General Tso's Chicken. Though there is no record of this actually being his favorite recipe or not but it originated from his home town and now is one of the favorite American-Chinese dine-in/take-out recipes of all time.

Now to make this recipe you need to make a chili paste which is totally worth it and you can use it in many other recipes as well.

For this chili paste you need 50 dried chilis, 1 cup boiled water, 4 garlic cloves, 1 inch long ginger piece, 1 teaspoon salt, 4 tablespoons white vinegar and 4 tablespoons oil.

Soak the chilies in the water for 30 minutes. Drain the water out of the soaked chilies.

Grind them with 4 tablespoons of vinegar.

Grind garlic cloves and ginger as well.

Put grind chili paste, ground ginger and garlic in non stick pan.

Add 4 tablespoons of oil, salt and cook it on medium heat for 2 minutes.

Chili paste is done and you can store it in a jar.

Now the chili paste is made we can start the recipe.

Ingredients For Chicken Marinade:

500 grams boneless chicken cut into 1 inch bite sized cubes

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Ingredients For Chicken Batter:

1 egg

1/4 cup cornflour

Ingredients For Sauce:

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 tablespoons of chili garlic sauce

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

3 tablespoons of vinegar

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of cornflour

Ingredients For Stir Fry:

4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

4-5 dried red chilies

2 tablespoons of chili paste

2 tablespoons of oil

First of we will marinade the chicken in salt, pepper, baking soda and sesame oil.

Set aside the chicken for 15-30 minutes.

Meanwhile the chicken is marinating we will make the sauce.

In a bowl add sugar, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, vinegar, chicken stock and cornflour.

Mix it properly.

Now its time to prepare the chicken batter.

For this we will add one egg in the chicken marinade and then add cornflour.

Mix it properly with preferably you clean beautiful hands.

Heat 1 inch deep oil in your non stick pan on medium low heat.

Start cooking the chicken in batches.

It took me two batches to done with my chicken.

Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side and take out the chicken on a paper-toweled plate.

If you want extra crisp on your chicken you need to let it cool down and then fry it in the heating oil once more for 1 to 2 minutes.

Time to prepare the sauce but before we need to stir fry chopped garlic, dried red chilies and chili paste you made for this beautiful recipe in 2 tablespoons of oil.

Stir fry them for 1 minutes and then add the sauce mix.

(before adding the sauce mix give it a good mix as the sugar and cornflour would be set below.

Cook the sauce for 1 to two minutes and add the chicken.

Stir in the chicken for 30 seconds and take it off the heat.

General Tso's chicken is ready to serve.

You can eat it with noodles but I always love stir fried meats in sauce with vegetable fried rice. So, I made myself some.

It's sweet and spicy at the same time blended together in a unique way. It's none other than General Tso's Chicken. Thank you Raheel Sharif for my cooking skills.

Don't forget to comment and tell me how much all of you love me.