Chinese Takeout is one of my favorites, but we don't eat it as often because it may not be the "healthiest" of choices to eat. Yes, many Chinese restaurants, like many of us know Panda Express and any other local restaurants cook with either too much oil, sugar and salt. I knew I had to come up with a version of kung pao chicken at home. We can enjoy it in the comfort of our own home and I can control the ingredients that best fit our meal plans for a weeknight meal or date night meal. I've played with this recipe a couple times, added some ingredients but kept it as traditional as I could! The ingredients used in this dish are very easy to find at your local market. It's always good to keep handy Asian ingredients or sauces as a staple in your pantry. You can use it for many other Asian inspired dishes.
This dish came out delicious!
I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Kung Pao Chicken
Yield: 4-6 servings
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
2 large chicken breasts, sliced quarter inch thick
1 red bell pepper, sliced quarter inch thick
1 green bell pepper, sliced quarter inch thick
1 bunch scallions or green onions, cut into fourths
10 chiles de arbol
Half onion, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup peanuts or cashews
Sauce Ingredients
¼ cup oyster sauce
1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce or regular
2 tbsp chile garlic sauce
⅓ cup chicken broth
1 tsp cornstarch
Directions
In a small mixing bowl, combine the oyster sauce, soy sauce, and chile garlic sauce. Set aside. In another small mixing bowl whisk together the chicken broth and cornstarch. Set aside.
Using a large wide skillet or wok preheated to medium high, toast your chiles de arbol for about 3 minutes, so they turn slightly darker red and till fragrant. Remove them from the pan. Drizzle some canola or vegetable oil into the skillet.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper, place the chicken in the skillet and sear on both sides, about 2 minutes. Remove the chicken and place it in a bowl.
Drizzle some oil in the skillet and place the garlic and chiles for a minute, do not burn the garlic. Add in your vegetables and peanuts. Cook for about 2 minutes.
Pour in your oyster sauce mixture. Saute the vegetables until all coated. Next, add in your chicken broth corn starch, this will help thicken the sauce so it all comes together. Lastly, add your par cooked chicken and saute for about 5 minutes until all vegetables and chicken is coated in the sauce.
Serve with white rice or noodles and garnish with chopped peanuts or cilantro.
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