Oh no, chicken again?

I love Chinese food. Some of you have heard me whine that there's not a lot of good Chinese restaurants in the North Dallas suburbs. There's not many bad ones either, for that matter. To get my fix of Chinese food I've had to learn to cook a few things that are outside my normal comfort zone.

Since there's only so many days we want to eat chicken in a week, it's fun to spice it up when you do. Because I didn't have all of the same ingredients, this recipe is an adaptation on the Kung Po Chicken recipe in the book 365 Ways To Cook Chicken.

Not Quite Kung Po Chicken (serves 4)

1+ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (my Costco pack has 5), cut into bite sized pieces
1 egg white
1 T + 1t of cornstarch
2 T soy sauce
2 t dry sherry (I used white wine)
1 t rice vinegar
1 t Szechwan chili paste with garlic
1/4 c chicken broth
1 t sesame oil
3 T peanut oil
1/2 cashews
2 scallions, cut into 1/2 pieces
2 cloves garlic, crushed

1. In a small bowl, combine chicken pices, egg white and 1 T of cornstarch. Toss to coat and set aside.

2. In glass measuring cup combine chili paste, soy sauce, wine, vinegar, broth, 1 t cornstarch and sesame oil. Set aside.

3. Heat oil in wok over medium-high heat. Add chicken and stir fry until mostly done and lightly browned. This will take around 5 minutes, depending on how big you made the pieces. (If they're too big, take smaller bites!)



While the chicken was cooking, I got my broccoli going. I sauteed over medium high heat for several minutes, then added a couple tablespoons of water, covered the pan and turned the heat down.


4. When the chicken is done, remove from the pan. Add in the nuts. (I used cashews because I didn't have peanuts). Lightly toast for a couple of minutes.

5. Add the scallions and garlic to the pan and sautee for a minute or so, then add the chicken back to the pan. Pour in the sauce and stir around to coat the chicken and warm up the sauce. At this point I added a teaspoon of peanut butter to get the peanut taste that Kung Po Chicken has.

I served with rice and broccoli. Yum.

I've just realized that our dishes are looking a bit boring. At least the food looks good. And it really tasted good too.