Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Food: Kung Pao Chicken


Once upon a time, a girl and a boy had a special anniversary to celebrate.  Since he always did wonderful things for her, she decided she would take care of their night together.


And since I love food/cooking so much, the natural option was to make him dinner.  So I went to the store... only to realize that I hadn't figured out what I was making yet.  I texted his mom and she suggested Chinese.  Well, I don't know any home-made Chinese food recipes off-hand... I went with the obvious answer:  called my mother to find out what would be easy and delicious.


And boy did she follow through!!
She sent me through the store looking for the few ingredients I didn't already have for kung pao chicken on rice.  Here's the recipe!




Kung Pao Chicken from Colorado Collage


4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb total), cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 c. soy sauce, divided
2 T fresh lemon juice
2 T sugar
2 t. cornstarch
1/4 t. crushed red pepper (you could leave this out)
1/4 c. water
2 T canola oil
1 t. minced garlic
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 onion, coarsely chipped
1/4 c. roasted peanuts, (I add more cause I like them :))
cooked white rice


Combine chicken and 2 T of the soy sauce.  Chill 30 minutes.  In small bowl, combine remaining 2 T soysauce.  lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, crushed red pepper, and water.  In wok or large skillet, heat canola oil over med-high.  Add reserved chicken mixture and garlic and stir-fry 3-4 min or until brown.  Add bell pepper and onion and stir-fry 3 minutes.  Add cornstarch mixture.  Cook, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened.  Add peanuts and toss.  Serve over rice.  You could also add carrots and mushrooms to this classic, healthful Chinese entree.




Well. Needless to say, it ended up absolutely wonderfully.  I actually didn't have cornstarch like I thought I did, so I just used 4 T of flour instead of the 2 T of cornstarch.  It worked just as well.  We both loved it and it made enough to fill us both and leave some for his lunch the next day.


Till next time, lovely blog!
-Amanda Diane

2 comments:

  1. Amanda! This does sound DELISH!

    So your about me blurb is exactly like me :) haha! Anyway, not sure how I found you but wanted to say hi! I'll have to try this chicken! YUMMO!

    ReplyDelete