Kung pao chicken

Kung pao chicken, or gongbao chicken, is my favourite Chinese dish. It brings together the things I like best: heat, sweetness and cashews. I reckon that’s how most people like their Chinese food. Eating that chicken in China is one of my fondest food memories from Asia. I’ve never had kung pao chicken like it in Europe. I call it that because that’s the name I learnt for it (though back when I was travelling around China a menu in English was a rare thing). In Chinese it’s simply 宫保雞丁 🙂

Why such fond memories? When I first went to China in 2000, a few of us planned the trip together. One was my cousin Olek, who’d been to Mongolia with me the year before. We’d planned our China trip, but it turned out Olek, who was studying medicine, had flunked something and had to stay behind for a resit in early July. We were due to leave in late June (we were taking the Trans-Siberian Railway to China via Mongolia).

So Olek decided he’d just fly to Beijing on the day we were meant to get there. He missed a few jolly adventures along the way (including two of our group getting arrested in Irkutsk, the Naadam festival in Mongolia and a hellish ride across the Gobi on a sleeper bus). But meeting up at the hostel we’d agreed on in Beijing was something else.

Our journey took a day longer than planned, so Olek had already had a little taste of Beijing. On the day we arrived he had no idea what time we’d turn up. We only kept in touch by email; we didn’t have mobiles. So it was an extraordinary coincidence that just as we walked up to the hostel door, out came Olek. He was simply heading into town, but it looked like a perfectly staged welcome.

He had something to welcome us with, too: he’d bought some vile Chinese plum wine for the occasion. Luckily the hotel had a place called Wally’s, with plenty of cheap Chinese beer (Tsingtao, 625 ml bottles at 2.8% alcohol) and kung pao chicken on the menu.

You can’t imagine what that tasted like after a long journey living on instant noodles and Russian pâté. Words fail me. We went back to Wally’s a few more times during our stay in Beijing, so I had the kung pao a good few times.

The recipe I’m sharing is my own take on the dish. I think it comes out really tasty. Maybe it’s not quite the original (especially Wally’s), but I’ve nothing to be ashamed of. Highly recommended.

At a glance: 

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2 portions

Calories: seems reasonable

Ingredients for gongbao chicken:

• one chicken breast (frozen)
• half a sweet yellow pepper
• a 15 cm piece of fresh cucumber
• 3 medium shallots
• 1 medium onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• a generous handful of cashews
• 3 tablespoons of light soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons of spicy sesame sauce (shown in the photo below)
• freshly ground mixed peppercorns
• a teaspoon of ground hot paprika
• two teaspoons of ground Sichuan pepper
• two teaspoons of sugar

Method (the order things go into the pan matters):

Like most Chinese wok stir-fries, this dish comes together quickly (I used a frying pan; it works). Get your ingredients ready in advance (everything must be chopped – you’ll be cooking over high “heat” and simply won’t have time) and add them to the pan in the right order. Here goes.

I cooked the rice first, because this dish goes perfectly with rice. It absolutely has to come in a separate little bowl. And it should clump together so you can eat it with chopsticks. Once the rice was cooked I got on with the cashews. I heated a small frying pan, threw in the nuts and stirred. When they started to take on colour I added a few drops of olive oil. I lowered the heat and warmed them for about another minute. I took them off the heat and set them aside.

Cashews ready, I got on with the kung pao chicken.

I cut the frozen meat into small, thin pieces using a chef’s knife (one of those big heavy knives). You can see them in the bowl in the photo below. I set the meat aside. I cut the onion and shallots into fairly chunky dice and did the same with the garlic. The pepper and fresh cucumber (yes, fresh) I cut into even bigger cubes. I put everything aside in a bowl.

I heated olive oil in a frying pan (high “heat”, 7.8 on a scale of 1 to 10) and threw in the pieces of chicken. I stirred vigorously (the whole dish is basically add and stir). Once the chicken turned pale I added the onion, shallots and garlic. Another good stir. I poured in 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and sprinkled in two teaspoons of sugar. I mixed everything well. I seasoned with freshly ground mixed peppercorns (quite a lot), Sichuan pepper and hot paprika. Another stir.

Once the soy sauce had completely evaporated I threw in the rest of the vegetables (the yellow pepper and the fresh cucumber). I stirred again for a good few dozen seconds. I added 4 tablespoons of spicy sesame sauce and fried everything for another 2–3 minutes or so, stirring thoroughly the whole time. This wonderful Chinese dish is ready. As I said, it’s best with plain rice that clumps together nicely, served separately. Enjoy!