Kung Po chicken and egg fried rice...

so today i set myself a mission to cook a meal for the family. after watching Ching-he Huang's Chinese food made easy i decided to be adventurous and make something from scratch rather than getting a takeaway.
i ended up making Kung Po chicken with egg fried rice and ohhhhhhhh my gosh it was good! i don't think i will ever have another takeaway after making it.
most cooking program's make it look really easy and then it turns out to be quite difficult. this however was simple and so easy to do!

you will need:

4 chicken thighs, cut into ½-inch slices
Salt and ground white pepper
1 tbsp of corn flour
1 tbsp of Ground nut oil
2 tbsps of Sichuan peppercorns
4 dried red chilies or 2 tsp of chilli flakes
1 tbsp of Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry
1 red pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
2 spring onions, chopped into 1-inch lengths
Handful of dry-roasted cashews

for the sauce:

7 tbsps of cold vegetable stock
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
1 tbsp of tomato ketchup
1 tbsp of Chinkiang black rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp of hoisin sauce
1 tsp of chili sauce
1 tbsp of corn flour

start by cutting the chicken into small strips and place in a bowl along with a pinch of salt and white pepper. mix that in my hand and then add one tbsp of cornflour, this allows the chicken to remain juicy..i was a bit unsure at first but it really works!

place your wok on a high heat and allow it to get really hot, mine is a non stick tefal which has a heat spot in the centre showing you when it's ready to cook. once it's hot put the groundnut oil into the wok. once the oil starts smoking throw in the chilli flakes/dried chillis and the Sichuan peppercorns. to stop these from burning quickly toss them in the oil.

after a few seconds throw in the chicken and stir fry for 2 minutes.

once the chicken loses its raw pinkness add the rice wine and stir fry for another 2 minutes.

now add the "sauce" and bring to the boil.

once boiling add the red peppers and stir fry for another 2 minutes.

next add the spring onions and stir fry for another minute.

finally throw in a hand full of dry roasted peanuts and give it a good stir.

now for the rice.


you will need:
1 tbsp ground nut oil
500g jasmin rice (cooked, drained and cooled completely)
3 eggs
2 spring onions
light soy sauce
A little sesame seed oil

heat up the ground nut oil and allow it to smoke then add the eggs. allow it to sit still for a few seconds and then stir it to scramble.

then add the rice, it may be a tad stuck together but the heat will help loosen it back up. add the onions and stir fry for a few more minutes. add some light soy sauce and a touch of sesame oil and give it a good stir.

and there you have it, Kung Po chicken with egg fried rice...
i for one will never eat Chinese take away again!


and to make today even more exciting, the creator of this amazing recipe retweeted my picture and started following me! A massive thank you to Ching-he Huang for this.