Anna's Family Kitchen was inspired by my love of food and desire to feed my family healthy, home cooked wholesome meals that are beautifully presented and appealing but don’t require hours of prep in the kitchen.
Kung Pao Chicken
Forget the takeaway – this Chinese style chicken dish is not only much healthier but is knocked up in less time than it will take for your takeaway to be delivered. Or if you live in the sticks like I do, it will save you having to go and collect it.
Serves: 4
Prep: 5 minutes
Cooking: 25 minutes
Total: 30 minutes
Difficulty: easy
INGREDIENTS
⠀
1kg chicken cut into 3cm wide strips – I used a combination of thighs and breast meat but either work
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp Chinese rice wine
2 tsp Corn Flour
2 tbsp oil
3 dried chillis – I used Birdseye
4 garlic cloves crushed
2 tsp grated or finely chopped ginger
5 spring onions, topped, and white parts sliced
300g Green Beans halved
100g cashew nuts
For the sauce:
1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 tsp honey
1 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp Corn Flour
1 tsp ground Sichuan Peppercorns
Combine 2 tbsp soy sauce, the Chinese rice wine and corn flour in a bowl to make a paste then add the chicken. Stir to coat the chicken and set aside or stick in the fridge.
Mix together all your sauce ingredients. Set aside.
Heat the oil and add the chills – leave them whole – they’ll flavour the oil but you want to be able to spot them to remove them.
Once the chillis start to blacken add the chicken pieces along with the garlic and ginger. Stir fry on a high heat for 8 minutes.
Toast the cashews in a dry frying pan for a few minutes.
Add the green beans, spring onions and sauce to the pan. Simmer for 5 minutes before stirring in the cashew nuts.
Serve with rice or noodles and extra veggies if you like.
