Kung Pao Chicken

Method

1. Cut the chicken into 1.5 cm cubes, add the marinade soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and cornstarch, mix well with your hand and leave for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, snip the chilies into 2 cm pieces and shake out the seeds, cut the scallion whites into 1 cm lengths and thinly slice the garlic and ginger. In a small bowl, stir the vinegar, sugar, light and dark soy sauce, sauce cornstarch and water until the sugar dissolves.

   Add in this stepBoneless, skinless chicken thighs 300 gLight soy sauce (for the marinade) 1 tspShaoxing wine (or dry sherry) 1 tspCornstarch (for the marinade) 1½ tspChinese black vinegar (Chinkiang) 1 tbspSugar 1 tbspLight soy sauce 1 tbspDark soy sauce ½ tspCornstarch (for the sauce) 1 tspWater 30 ml

2. Put the oil and peanuts into a cold 28 cm wok (or deep frying pan) and fry over medium-low heat for 5 min, stirring constantly. When the peanuts are light golden and start to crackle, scoop them out; they crisp up as they cool. Leave the oil in the wok.

   Add in this stepCooking oil 2 tbspRaw peanuts, skinned 50 g

   medium-low heat

3. Turn down to low heat, add the chilies and Sichuan peppercorns and stir for 30 sec, just until the chilies turn deep red and smell toasty. Move on at once: blackened chilies taste bitter.

   Add in this stepDried red chilies 8Sichuan peppercorns 1 tsp

   low heat

4. Turn up to high heat, add the chicken, spread it out and leave it for 30 seconds, then stir-fry for 4 min until it is white all over with no pink showing.

   high heat

5. Add the garlic, ginger and scallion and stir-fry over high heat for 30 sec until fragrant.

   Add in this stepGarlic cloves 3Fresh ginger 10 gScallions, white parts (thick ones) 2

   high heat

6. Stir the sauce again to lift the starch from the bottom, pour it in and toss over high heat for 1 min, until it thickens and coats the chicken in a glossy glaze. Turn off the heat, toss in the peanuts and serve right away.

   high heat