Kung Pao Chicken
Not too long after we began staying at home, my step-daughter, Rachel, convinced me that she and I should both try Misfits Market and see what we get. Misfits Market is an online organic produce vendor that sells fruits and vegetables that may not look pretty, but are perfectly good to eat. You choose what size box you want and how often you want to receive a box. You don’t get to choose what‘s in the box, but rather it’s like your own episode of Chopped — whenever you get a box, you have to figure out what to do with the things in it.
After many delays due to the sudden popularity of this service, we finally got our first box, and one of the items in it was a zucchini. Of course, zucchini is not unfamiliar to us, but how did we want to cook it? We thought about what was in the freezer, which included a few packages of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and decided on Kung Pao chicken.
Many restaurant versions of this dish include a lot of chopped celery, which Hank doesn’t like. But we’ve also, on rare occasions, seen it with zucchini, hence Hank’s idea. Once in a while when we are in Albany, we stop by one of the Asian supermarkets, and as such we have a fair number of ingredients on hand. But still, out of the three versions we considered, we didn’t have the right combination for any of them. As we are all finding these days, we need to make do with what we have, and we were very happy with what we created!
Kung Pao Chicken
Serves 4
1 egg white, slightly beaten
¼ cup plus 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
¼ cup plus 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1½ pounds boneless, skinless thighs or breasts, cut into ¾-inch cubes
¼ cup Shaoxing wine
2 Tablespoons bean sauce
1½ teaspoons chili paste, such as sambal oelek
1½ teaspoons sugar
1 Tablespoon black rice vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 cup canola or peanut oil
1 large zucchini cut into ½-inch cubes
2 Tablespoon minced ginger
4 garlic cloves, minced or through garlic press
3-4 dried red chilis, tips cut off
1½ cups unsalted roasted peanuts
Combine egg white, ¼ cup cornstarch, 1 Tablespoon soy sauce, and sesame oil in a medium bowl. Add chicken and marinate chicken cubes for 15-30 minutes.
Make a sauce with the bean sauce, ¼ cup soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, chili paste, sugar, and black rice vinegar, and set aside.
Combine 1 Tablespoon cornstarch with ¼ cup warm water and set aside, to be mixed thoroughly again later on.
Heat canola oil until shimmering. Add chicken in batches and cook 3-4 minutes until done. Drain and set aside.
Cook zucchini until just tender, about 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Remove all but 2-3 Tablespoons oil. Add ginger, garlic, and chilis and stir fry for about a minute. Return the chicken and zucchini to wok, add the peanuts, and cook, stirring, for about a minute. Add sauce and stir fry for about 1 more minute.
Mix the cornstarch and water again, and add to the wok. Stir to incorporate and allow the sauce to thicken, about a minute.
Serve with rice.