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Mar 17

The Spiteful Chef: Kung Po Recipe
My boyfriend has got two dishes that he aboslutely, 100% nails. He cooks them better than I can, and that annoys me. A lot.
One of them is tuna, anchovy, tomato and olive sauce over spaghetti, which sounds gross but is actually a party in your mouth.
The other is Kung Po chicken. It’s like the best mea you’ve ever had in a chinese restaurant, only you can eat it in your own home, with your slippers on, and no-one will see if you get the sauce all over your face.
Unlike most recipes I follow where I read the ingredients lists, disregard anything I don’t have in and substitute it for something else, my boyfriend actually went to the local chinese store and bought all the ingredients for the sauce, and it was massively worth it, we’ve eaten this same meal once a week for the past month and a half or so.
The basic ingredients are as follows:
Chicken pieces
1/2 medium onion
2 small or 1 medium zucchini
1 large carrot
1 stick celery
2 scallions (white and light green part only)
1 T ginger, minced
1 T garlic, minced
10 oriental chiles (seeds removed if you like a milder spiciness)
2 T peanut oil (roasted peanut oil if you’ve got it)1/2 C peanuts or cashew
Sauce:
2 T light soy sauce
2 T dark soy sauce (has a deep molasses undertone—found at Asian grocery)
3 T black vinegar (can substitute red wine vinegar if necessary)
1.5 T cornstarch
5 T water
1.5 T sugar
1 T sesame oil
I think you can probably substitute the veg as much as you like, he adds pepper and mushrooms, but that’s up to you.
Method:
Dice all of your vegetables and protein to roughly the same size (1/2” by 1/2”).
Combine all sauce ingredients, stir, and set aside. Season protein with salt and pepper.
Heat 1 T oil in a medium-sized pan til almost smoking.
Add ginger and garlic and saute quickly, careful not to burn.
Immediately after it becomes aromatic (10 seconds?) add the protein and saute until cooked through, but not overcooked. This should take no more than 1-2 minutes.
In a large pan, heat remaining 1 T oil.
When shimmering, add carrots and chiles and saute for 1 minute.
Then add onions and celery, and saute for 2 minutes. Finally, add zucchini and saute for 1 additional minute.
When the pan appears dry (no oil or vegetable juices visible), add the sauce all in one dump. Have water nearby in case the sauce thickens too quickly—you don’t want it to dry up and burn. Add water as necessary.
Stir the sauce and vegetables together to coat, then add protein and stir gently to coat.
Top with nuts and scallions, and serve over white rice.
So, there you go. I have no idea whether it keeps well, or even freezes well, because, to be honest, we’ve never got any leftovers.

My boyfriend has got two dishes that he aboslutely, 100% nails. He cooks them better than I can, and that annoys me. A lot.

One of them is tuna, anchovy, tomato and olive sauce over spaghetti, which sounds gross but is actually a party in your mouth.

The other is Kung Po chicken. It’s like the best mea you’ve ever had in a chinese restaurant, only you can eat it in your own home, with your slippers on, and no-one will see if you get the sauce all over your face.

Unlike most recipes I follow where I read the ingredients lists, disregard anything I don’t have in and substitute it for something else, my boyfriend actually went to the local chinese store and bought all the ingredients for the sauce, and it was massively worth it, we’ve eaten this same meal once a week for the past month and a half or so.

The basic ingredients are as follows:

Chicken pieces
1/2 medium onion
2 small or 1 medium zucchini
1 large carrot
1 stick celery
2 scallions (white and light green part only)
1 T ginger, minced
1 T garlic, minced
10 oriental chiles (seeds removed if you like a milder spiciness)
2 T peanut oil (roasted peanut oil if you’ve got it)1/2 C peanuts or cashew

Sauce:

2 T light soy sauce
2 T dark soy sauce (has a deep molasses undertone—found at Asian grocery)
3 T black vinegar (can substitute red wine vinegar if necessary)
1.5 T cornstarch
5 T water
1.5 T sugar
1 T sesame oil

I think you can probably substitute the veg as much as you like, he adds pepper and mushrooms, but that’s up to you.

Method:

Dice all of your vegetables and protein to roughly the same size (1/2” by 1/2”).
Combine all sauce ingredients, stir, and set aside. Season protein with salt and pepper.
Heat 1 T oil in a medium-sized pan til almost smoking.
Add ginger and garlic and saute quickly, careful not to burn.
Immediately after it becomes aromatic (10 seconds?) add the protein and saute until cooked through, but not overcooked. This should take no more than 1-2 minutes.

In a large pan, heat remaining 1 T oil.
When shimmering, add carrots and chiles and saute for 1 minute.
Then add onions and celery, and saute for 2 minutes. Finally, add zucchini and saute for 1 additional minute.
When the pan appears dry (no oil or vegetable juices visible), add the sauce all in one dump. Have water nearby in case the sauce thickens too quickly—you don’t want it to dry up and burn. Add water as necessary.
Stir the sauce and vegetables together to coat, then add protein and stir gently to coat.
Top with nuts and scallions, and serve over white rice.

So, there you go. I have no idea whether it keeps well, or even freezes well, because, to be honest, we’ve never got any leftovers.